


War

by Oceanicwolf32



Category: any - Fandom
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-12
Updated: 2018-02-12
Packaged: 2019-03-17 07:35:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 26,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13654434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oceanicwolf32/pseuds/Oceanicwolf32
Summary: In a war-torn world, two young fighters must work together to make sure their friends stay ahead of the enemy, but distrust is thick in the air towards the young woman who has seemed to abandon the Ally cause and joined the ResistanceThis is their story





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi there....uh first time uploading on here. this story is of my own creation, however, there are many influences from different shows etc, if it offends you to see these things please refrain from going into a rage, like I said, it's my first time uploading on this site
> 
>  
> 
> That being said, please enjoy my first ever chapter of a book I wrote during my high school years

Disclaimer; Not everything is to scale in this story.  
  
  
The evening was just starting to cool, the once light blue sky now a mixed hue of orange and purple. On the horizon, one could see the front of a storm, the clouds darker than a raven’s feathers. Bolts of lightning began to strike the earth as the clouds advanced, blocking out the setting sun. A large red fox sat atop of a hill, his bright green eyes watching the storm as it passed overhead, not seeming to fear the destruction that it brought. When the first drops of rain began to hit the cracked earth was when the fox began to run, bounding down the hill and into the woods behind it, the twisted trees seeming to part away from the animal as it jumped over the roots of the oaks. It continues to run till it reached an old willow tree, the branches creating a curtain, the fox walks under the leaves and into a small hole at the base, slipping down the moist earth till it reached a cavern. A young girl looked up from the root that acted as a table; she had swirling blue-green eyes and long brown hair. She wore black jeans with matching combat boots, a black long-sleeved shirt, and a dark blue coat hanging over the table.  
  
“What’s wrong Azaziel?” she asks the fox as it walks towards her. Its body begins to glow as it walked, enveloping it in a blinding light. When it died a tall young man stood in its place. He had the same colored eyes as the fox and long sandy-brown hair that was tied in a low ponytail. He wore black track pants with black lace-up boots, a black T-shirt, a long black overcoat, hung off of his shoulders, a glowing fox symbol slowly fading from his right shoulder.  
  
“The storm is getting worse.” He says, his voice in a slight monotone, as he ringed the water from his hair. The girl raises an eyebrow at the fox just as a clap of thunder shakes the earth beneath their feet. The pair jump away from a huge bolt of lightning that struck the ground through the hole in the roof of the cavern.  
  
“What in the hell did you do to piss him off so much!?” Azaziel yells at the girl, whose pupils had shrunk to a small dot in fear.  
  
“Gee I don’t know, maybe joining the Resistance!” she yells back, the storm having past overhead. The pair look at each other, the glowing fox symbol reappearing on Azaziel’s shoulder while a glowing wolf one appeared on the girl’s neck. They both bolt for the entrance, the girl collecting her coat. The fox and a black and white wolf burst from the tree, bolting through the woods until they came to the hill that Azaziel had first seen the storm, just as a beam of energy shot down from the clouds, blowing the willow tree to splinters.  
  
‘That was close.’ Azaziel’s voice rings through the wolf’s mind as they look down at the woods.  
  
‘Let’s go.’ The wolf says as she begins to descend the hill on the opposite side of the hill.  
  
‘Don’t you want to go see if anything survived that blast?’ the fox asked, not moving from his spot. The wolf continues down the hill as it turns its head back slightly.  
  
‘Nothing survived, he doesn’t leave traces.’ She says before looking ahead. The fox heaves a sigh before following the larger animal, leaping onto her back when he neared her. She huffs as she felt him curl up in her fur.  
  
‘Comfy there?’ she scoffs, her steps not faltering down the slope.  
  
‘Yes, very, thank you for asking.’ Was the reply and she huffs a wolf chuckle.  
  
‘Smartass.’ She mutters as she reached the flat plain, taking off in a sprint, her claws pulling chunks of soft earth from the moist ground.  
  
‘Jerica? Why did you join the Resistance?’ Azaziel asks, fatigue evident in his mind’s voice. The wolf’s pace falters slightly but she quickly rights herself and continues on her path.  
‘I couldn’t stand by and watch him kill any more of our kind, he killed everyone I loved and now he's gonna pay.’ Azaziel’s eyes widen at the murderous tone in the wolf’s voice.  
  
‘I lost the people I loved too, but killing him won’t bring them back.’ The fox lays his head down on his paws and closes his eyes. The wolf sighs as she slowed to a walk.  
  
‘Hop down for a second.’ The fox groans but hops down as a light blue glow envelopes the wolf. Jerica bends down to the fox as the light faded, gathering him into her arms before walking towards an old abandoned shack, the wood had holes in it and sheets were missing from the roof.  
  
“This will do for the night.” The girl says, sitting down in the only corner covered by the roof and fox yips as she settles him in her lap. She chuckles as she pats behind his ears, lulling him to sleep.  
  
“Go to sleep, we’ll head out in the morning.” The fox huffs a sigh as sleep overcomes his tired mind. The girl smiles as she closes her eyes sleep also pulling her into darkness.


	2. Chapter 2

The early morning rays shine on the horizon, drying the damp earth as the birds begin to chirp. The fox begins to stir in the young girl’s lap, his long red ears twitching as he yawned and stretched. As he hopes up his fur began to shine, changing back into his human form. He quietly tiptoes out of the hut as to not disturb the wolf girl as she curled up in her coat. Once the fox was outside he observed their surroundings. The hut was surrounded by she-oaks, the towering trees’ canopies allowing only a circle of sky to be shown, wisps of clouds slowly disappearing in the morning fog that hung low in the sky. The creaking of wood has the young man whirling around to see the sleep ridden girl leaning against what was left of the doorframe, her coat covering her thin frame.  
  
“You could have woken me up.” She mutters, tossing a small bag of food at the fox, who catches it in one hand before it hit his face.  
  
“Yeah, but you needed your beauty sleep.” The fox chuckles before ducking the throwing knife that soared towards him. He pulls out two fruit bars and tosses them to the ex-assassin as he stood straight, pulling two out for himself. The girl glares at him as she catches the bars, unwrapping one at its end before ripping a piece off with her large canines.  
  
“You know, you could try to eat like a human.” The fox mutters as he bites into his bar. The wolf looks up at him, and then back down at the bar.  
  
“Sorry, old habits.” The fox flinches at the thought of her ‘old habits’. The girl smiles at him, her teeth visibly shrinking till they were more human like.  
  
“Is that better?” she asks, her voice mocking. The fox rolls his eyes and they finish eating in silence, listening to the chirps of the birds around them, their animal ears appearing on their hands so they could hear further.  
  
“I don’t trust this silence.” The wolf mutters as she chomps down on the last bite of her bar, wiping her hands on her jeans, the birds having gone silent long ago. The fox nods his head as he looks around the trees, large black ravens and crows with bright red eyes, watching them.  
  
“Jerica…?” he starts, backing towards the hut.  
  
“I see them.” Several throwing knives slide out of the girl’s coat sleeves, settling between her fingers as the pair continued to back away. Azaziel’s fox symbol appears as they reach the tree line. The birds begin to glow as they hopped to the ground, changing into black hooded figures.  
  
“On three, run.” The girl whispers to the fox that was growling at the hooded figures. She raises her hands, preparing to throw her knives.  
“One…two…three!” the wolf quickly throws the knives at the cloaks, several falling to the ground, before turning to run into the trees, following Azaziel’s scarlet fur through the shadows, her symbol appearing before a wolf sprang forward to follow the trail.  
  
‘How many?’ Azaziel asks as they run, jumping over twisted tree roots.  
  
‘I counted twenty, fourteen now.’ The wolf replies as the sound of squawks and caws reach their ears.  
  
‘Heads up!’ the wolf leaps over the fox, her jaws clamping down on a raven that tried to swoop him. Blood drips from her muzzle as she tosses the limp body back into the swarm.  
‘Thirteen.’ She mutters as they continue to run. They duck their heads as two crows try to swoop them Azaziel quickly jumps up and swipes at one of the crows, throwing it into a tree, effectively snapping its neck.  
‘Twelve.’ He says as he continues to run, two birds in Jerica’s mouth.  
  
‘Ten.’ She tosses them to ground, blood staining the white of her fur from gashes in her side.  
  
‘You’re injured.’ The fox says, noticing the gashes. The wolf once again leaps into the air, taking out three more birds.  
  
‘Seven and I am fine.’ She says once she was back on her feet, though she was panting heavily. The fox knocks two more ravens into a tree before the remaining birds took off, fleeing from the pair.  
  
‘We got to five this time, they’re getting braver.’ The fox says as they slow to a walk.  
  
‘Uh…huh.’ The wolf mutters before stumbling and falling to the ground, changing back in a flash of light, her once tanned skin now deathly pale.  
  
“Jerica! Oh god, hang on!” the young man, having changed back, quickly pulls white bandages from the bag on his hip, pulling the wolf to sit against a tree trunk nearly, the girl’s eyes sliding in and out of focus. The fox clicks his fingers in front of her face, forcing her to stay focused.  
  
“Hey don’t pass out on me.” He says before moving to inspect the wound on her side, her shirt shredded and bloodied on the gashes.  
  
“Never…thought crows…could be…so viscous.” The injured wolf chuckles, her chest rising and falling at an uneven pace.  
  
“Now is not the time for jokes, Jerica.” The fox scolds as he pull shreds of bloodied material from the wounds with his claw-like nails. The wolf winces at the pull of a particular strand before letting out a shuddering breath.  
  
“I'm going to have to lift your shirt up a bit so I can bandage the gashes.” The fox quickly says his hand on the hem of her shirt. The girls nods and shifts her weight to her uninjured side. The fox slowly lifts her shirt to just under her arm, the gashes running from her stomach to the left side of her back.  
  
“They got you because you were protecting me.” The fox mutters as he wraps the bandage around her body. The wolf’s eyes remained closed, not acknowledging that she heard him. The fox sighs as he knots the ends of the bandage near her hip.  
  
“You don’t have to prove yourself to anyone anymore.” He adds as he pulls what was left of the side of her shirt down, pulling her coat to cover the holes. The wolf sighs deeply, signifying that she had fallen asleep. the young man chuckles to himself before lowering the wolf to the ground, laying her head against the soft mass that was growing on the earth near the tree roots, being careful not to lay her on her injured side. As soon as he got her down he gets to his feet and looks around the forest they ran into. Vines hung down from the taller trees, just out of reach from the fox. Plants with large dish like leaves surrounded the pair, small insects flying around each. The sunlight filtered through the branches, rays hitting patches of brightly colored flowers around them. A particular shrub catches his eye and he walks over to it, kneeling down to sniff at the leaves. He smiles softly before beginning to pull the leaves off of the twig-like branches and stuff them into the bag on his hip. As soon as he had picked all that he needed he stood up and walked over to the large leaves, pulling one off at the stem, the make shift dish holding a small amount of water. He makes his way back to the sleeping wolf, sweat collecting on her forehead though she was shivering. The fox frowns as he sets the leaf down before shrugging off his coat and laying it over her body, the girl’s shivering slowly dying away as the fox sat on the ground in front of her, pulling the leaf towards him. He adds a handful of leaves to the water, picking up a large smooth stone, and begins to grind the leaves into the water. A light blue paste begins to form after a while, the wolf beginning to stir from her slumber.  
  
“Hey there, how are you feeling?” the fox asks, noticing her gaze on him. She groans as she pushes herself to a sitting position, Azaziel’s coat falling off her shoulder.  
  
“Like a herd of elephants decided to use me as a tap-dancing mat.” She says, wincing slightly as she adjusts herself against the tree. The fox chuckles as he moves closer, pulling the leaf with him.  
  
“May I?” he asks as he pulls her coat off her, gesturing to the bloodied bandages that could be seen through the shredded shirt.  
  
“Yeah, go ahead.” She turns her head away as he lifts her shirt and unknots the bandages, unwrapping them, the bleeding having stopped.  
  
“This is gonna feel cold and sting a-little.” The fox warns as he scoops some paste onto his fingers. The wolf nods and grits her teeth as he begins to rub the paste onto the wounds, dried blood mixing with it, the light blue becoming a slight purple.  
  
“This will draw out any poisons or infections while speeding up your healing process.” He explains after the wounds were completely covered, wiping his hand on the grass nearby.  
“What is that stuff anyway?” the girl asks as he pulls out two leaves and places them in her hand.  
  
“A mixture of water and a well-known healing herb around the fox tribes, chew on those, they’ll help.” The wolf looks down at the herb before putting them in her mouth, pulling a face at the flavor as she began to chew.  
  
“Yeah they taste horrible but it heals all wounds and venoms.” The fox chuckles as he cleans the bandages in another leaf, the water slowly becoming red.  
“Doesn’t make it any better.” She spat, swallowing the foul leaves. The fox rolls his eyes, wringing the water out of the bandages, laying the white material on a large rock nearby, the warm sun shining on the jagged edges.  
  
“Look, we’re not going anywhere till you’re back to full strength, so you’re just going to put up with being looked after till then.” The fox says, his tone not leaving for the wolf to argue.  
  
“Fine! But you better have stuff that’s good to eat then that garbage.” She huffs, slumping against the tree, color coming back to her skin.  
  
“I’ll see what I can find around here.” He chuckles as he sits in front of the wolf, checking the girl’s injuries, the paste covering her side having changed to a light green color. The fox frowns when he spots this, his brain kicking into high gear.  
  
“What? What's wrong?” the girl notices his frown, looking down at her side.  
  
“Oh, I'm guessing means I had a poison in my system huh?” she mutters when she notices the paste color. The fox’s head shoots up, his eyes wide.  
“How…did you know that?” he asks his eyes bewildered.  
  
“I may be a wolf but I was raised by a fox tribe, long ago, I was born into the Warrior Wolf tribe but I showed traits of the Mystic Wolf tribe as I grew, the Alphas were going to banish my parents for treason but I made a deal with them; I would leave the tribe so long as they could stay. Let’s just say I would have died if the Fox Heads didn’t find me when they did.” The fox listens to the wolf as he reapplied more paste and bandaged it up.  
  
“That was you; you were the wolf child that created water sculptures.” The girl chuckles at the fox as he sits in front of her.  
  
“The Water Mystic, I believe I was called.” She says with a shake of her head.  
  
“I wasn’t part of the fox raid, but I could have stopped it before it started.” Tears prick the corner of her eyes, making the blue more vibrant.  
  
“All they did was show me kindness and I didn’t even raise a finger to stop them from being killed.” As her anger grew her hair got longer and changed color, blue appearing at her roots before spreading to the tips, the water in the earth and leaves rising up in shaking drops around them, the fox lurching forward to grab her shoulders, forcing the sobbing girl to look at him.  
  
“Jerica! Calm down, you saved me and a handful of other foxes that night, and you’ve saved countless other tribes since then, you're not evil, all you’ve done is good!” he shouts, shocking the girl enough that the water around them dropped, splashing up against them as the wolf’s eyes roll back and she passes out, falling into the fox’s chest, her hair staying its length and color as it fell around her face. The fox lets out a breath of relief as he wrapped his arms around the girl, his eyes looking around the space they were in. The plants had shriveled up and turned brown. The ground had dried and cracked. The air was growing humid as the sun began to warn the puddles of water around them, having already dried the fox and wolf’s damp clothes.


	3. Chapter 3

A few hours had gone by when the now blue-haired girl began to stir, the setting sun beginning to cool the earth. The wolf slowly opens her eyes, blinking against the sleep in her vision. She sits up quickly, her hand going to her side, when she couldn’t see the tall fox anywhere. She pushes his coat off of her legs as she pulls herself to her feet, her free hand on the tree to steady herself, pulling her coat tighter around her, spots of fresh blood appearing on the bandages that peeked out from her shirt.  
  
“Hey! Easy there, you're gonna re-open your wounds.” Azaziel drops the large leaf he was carrying as rushes over to the girl, catching her arms to lower her to the ground.  
  
“I panicked; I couldn’t see you so I thought that you had been taken away.” The girl says as she sits back down, crossing her legs in front of her.  
  
“I went to find food and water because, as you said, those herb leaves taste like garbage.” The fox explains, picking up stray berries that had fallen out of the leaf he had dropped. He picks the leaf up again and brings it closer to the girl, sitting it in front of her as he lowered himself to the ground. In the leaf were several multi-colored fruits, some small, some large.  
  
“That’s a lot of fruit.” The wolf says as she picks up a purple, bumpy-skinned fruit. The fox shrugs as he bites into an orange-colored fruit.  
  
“It was all I could find that was safe to eat.” He says, fruit juice spilling down his chin. The wolf giggles, reaching across the gap to wipe the juice on her coat sleeve. The fox quickly swallows the bit of fruit in his mouth before speaking again.  
  
“Thanks, uh there's a basin just past those trees there.” He points behind him as the wolf cuts a slice of fruit with her sharpened nails before popping it into her mouth.  
  
“Once we’re done here, we’ll go wash up.” He adds as he turns back to face her.  
  
“Does that mean I can wash this paste off?” the girl asks once she had swallowed the bit of fruit in her mouth. The fox chuckles and nods his head softly.  
  
“Yes, your wounds should be nearly fully closed by now.” He says as he finishes off his fruit. The girl smiles at him and tosses the rest of her fruit into her mouth. They finish eating in silence, the sun having fully set by the time they had finished. Azaziel gets to his feet, pushing his arms into his coat sleeves, helping Jerica to her feet. The plants and moss begin to glow as they begin to walk through the trees. Azaziel leads the way, helping the wolf over large tree roots every so often. The sound of rushing water soon reaches their ears, the fox parting some branches to reveal a large gushing waterfall. The cliff face held glowing multi-colored crystals in the stone, the clever water pooling in the glowing basin below, the bottom stone completely smooth.  
  
“Wow…” the wolf whispers as she looks around, her eyes wide in wonder.  
  
“You can say that again.” Azaziel says, both of them moving to the pool’s edge.  
  
“Are you going to swim?” the girl asks as she kicks her shoes off and unbuttons her shirt.  
  
“Maybe…” the fox keeps his eyes on the waterfall as the girl removes her shredded shirt, a black tank top covering the part of her body not wrapped in bandages. She shrugs as she begins to wade into the water.  
  
“Suit yourself.” She says as the water wraps around her waist. Her hands move to the knot under her arm the bandages falling away from her body as it is undone. She gathers the wad of material into her hands and tosses them back onto the shore, leaving her midsection bare, and the paste covering her entire left side. Azaziel collects the bandages from the ground and lays them on a rock nearby as the girl dives into the water. Her head breaks the surface near the base of the waterfall, pushing her long hair out of her face.  
  
“Enjoying yourself there?” Azaziel calls to her from his perch on a boulder overlooking the basin.  
  
“Yes.” She calls back as she begins to swim to the rock. She stands to her full height in the shallow water, looking up at the fox. The fox’s eyes widen as he looks at her side. The paste had washed off when she had dived in; gashes were fully healed, leaving white scars which were fading from sight.  
  
“Neat little trick isn’t it?” the girl beams up at the young man when she notices his gaze.  
  
“Yeah…I guess it is.” He replies, looking at the waterfall. He hears the girl sigh before something cool and wet wrapped around his wrists. He looks back to the girl, whose hands were outstretched to him, two tendrils of water sprouting springing up from around her feet. Before the fox can speak, he's thrown over the girl’s head and into the deeper part of the pool. Jerica laughs as she turns around, facing the surfacing fox, move tendrils sprouting up around her.  
  
“Oh, this means war!” Azaziel shouts as the ground around them shakes, a giant tree root snaking its way into the water, the fox crouching on his makeshift platform as it rises from the basin, his hair and clothes dripping water back into the pool. Azaziel smirks at Jerica’s shocked face.  
  
“What?” he says, the girl snapping out of her shock. She clenches her fists; large tentacles of water erupting around her as her eyes began to shine, leaping back onto stable ground, her tendrils following her in a ring around her feet, a smile on her face.  
  
“Well, I guess I don’t have to pull my punches.” She says as she thrusts her hand out, the water soaring towards the fox, the tendrils becoming ice as it flew towards Azaziel. Before it hit the fox a branch appeared in front of him, the jagged ice shattering on the wood. The wolf lowers her hand and frowns slightly, her eyes glowing with a fierce light. The fox stands on his platform, his eyes also glowing.  
  
“My turn.” Roots and branches race towards the girl at an alarming speed. The water around her forms a thick bubble as she crosses her arms over herself. The roots snake themselves around the bubble, lifting it and the girl inside up, bringing it closer to the fox. Azaziel peers into the bubble, smirking at the girl inside. That smirk falls when he sees the look of triumph on her face. Jerica quickly thrusts out her arms and her bubble spikes, shredding the roots, forcing the fox to cover his face. Before he can react he feels an arm wrap around his neck and hears the crackling of ice near his right ear.  
  
“I can’t believe you fell for that.” The wolf mutters into his ear, her body pressed against his back with her hand outstretched over his shoulder, an ice spear hovering over the palm of her hand, cold smoke falling to the root they were on.  
  
“I wasn’t expecting it, nice move.” He says as the spear liquefies and forms a ball above the girl’s palm as she steps away from the fox, the glow in their eyes subsiding as the adrenalin rush died. The wolf looks at her up-turned palm, the water a clear sphere, making the fox also focus his gaze on it. It begins to shake and reform in her palm, taking the shape of a single rose. The fox continues to watch on in wonder as it became real, starting at the stem before bright blue petals bloom at the top.  
  
“It’s called a Moonlight Rose, they used to bloom every full moon. I would always sneak out from the tribe to watch a brunch of them grow in a patch of moonlight that shone on the ground.” She says her expression sad at the memory.  
  
“Now, they don’t grow, the petals hate evil energy, it causes them to turn black and wilt.” She explains, tears coming to the corners of her eyes, as it did just that.  
  
“He has ruined this world, spreading his evil energy everywhere, causing beautiful plants like this to die.” The fox sighs, holding his hand down, a small twig growing up to his hand. The girl looks up as he snaps a length off, holding it in his forefinger and thumb. He holds it out to her, a rainbow colored lily growing at the end facing her, the stem forming from the wood.  
  
“My tribe used to call this flower the Promise Lily, many of the Mystics used to grown them, for friends and family, they lose their color and wilt when the promise that the person who grew it makes is broken; so I'm going to make a promise to you, I promise that we will save him and return this world back to the we remember.” The lily glows brightly as he finishes speaking, throwing rainbow lights had died the wolf steps forward and holds her palm over the flower.  
  
“And I promise not to kill him and return to him safely to his family.” The fox's eyes widen as the flower glows again, brighter than the first. Once it dies they look down at the flower. At the tips of half of the petals an emerald green color had appeared while on the other half there was an ocean blue color.  
  
“I've never heard of a double promise made with one Lily.” Azaziel as a glowing golden sphere forms around the flower, floating between them before fading from view.  
  
“The Head tribal man of your tribe told me about the first ever Promise Lily, both of them made a promise to each other using the same lily.” She says with a shrug, dropping down onto the pools surface, ripple appearing around her feet as she walks back to shore, picking up her shirt and inspecting the damage.  
  
“Do you think you can fix this?” she asks Azaziel as a root lowers from the main one, the fox stepping off, poking her hand through the holes in the shirt. The fox holds out his hand towards the shirt and the black threads reattach themselves filling the holes. The wolf smiles at him as he lets his hand fall to his side, pushing her arms trough the sleeves and buttoning it up.  
  
“Thanks.” She says as she lowers herself to the ground with a slight yawn.  
  
“We’ll move out in the morning so let’s get some sleep.” The fox says as he retrieves her coat before sitting down beside her. She nods her head and lies down with a bigger yawn this time. Azaziel follows suit, using their coats as blankets. As he was Just about to fall asleep he felt a weight on his right side. He opens his eyes and looks down to see the wolf’s head on his chest, her right arm draped over his abdomen.  
  
“It’s too cold to sleep separately.” She mutters, pulling her coat higher onto her shoulder. Azaziel sighs before closing his eyes again, wrapping his arm around the girl as sleep pulled them into the dark realm of dreams.


	4. Chapter 4

The early morning sun shone brightly, the young fox stirring from his slumber. Azaziel draws in a deep breath as he sat up, his eyes searching for the young wolf. A large water bubble floats in the air in front of him. He gets to his feet and pulls his coat onto his arms as he notices more bubbles floating around the area. He walks towards the basin, stopping at the water’s edge. Jerica was hovering over the pool at its center, sitting in a meditation position, her eyes closed and her hair floating around her. Two tendrils snaked around her, kind of like a double helix, while more bubbles floated around her. A large plant root grows from the ground, Azaziel stepping onto it, and out over the basin, stopping in front of the girl.  
  
“Good morning, sleepyhead.” The girl’s eyes slowly open, her irises seeming to glow from within, a smirk on her face.  
  
“’Morning, what’s with all this?” Azaziel gestures to the bubbles and the double helix around her. The girl looks around and shrugs her shoulders.  
  
“I don’t know, emotions are what my power draws on, so it’s reacting to what I'm sub-consciously feeling.” She explains with another shrug. Suddenly a look of surprise crosses her face, her eyes darting around the clearing in panic before focusing straight ahead. Azaziel opens his mouth say something but stops as she uncrosses her legs, the helix dropping back into the pool, her boots making a tapping sound as she landed on Azaziel’s platform from the night before, her coat billowing as her pupils slitted themselves.  
  
“Get away from the water.” She warns and Azaziel quickly leaps back, flipping in the air, landing on the bank just as the wolf screams in frustration, her hair flying around her as the pool exploded skywards. Azaziel quickly creates a shelter as the water came crashing down, splashing everywhere. The plants that acted as the shelter sank into the ground as Azaziel leaps towards the girl, who sat sobbing into her knees, her shoulders shaking as she fought to draw breath through the tears that cascaded down her cheeks. The fox kneels down and hugs the crying girl to his body, stroking her hair.  
  
“It’s ok, it’s going to be ok.” He whispers to her but she just shakes her head more tears falling from her eyes.  
  
“It’s not what I'm angry about; it’s something to do with me.” She says as she continuously wipes her eyes on her sleeve.  
  
“And what might that be?” the fox asks as she gets to her feet.  
  
“Something I don’t want to talk about.” She says as she leaps into the air, landing crouched near the water’s edge. Azaziel sighs before following the girl, crossing his arms as he watched the wolf gather her long hair into a ponytail, her bangs framing her face, a band forming from small bubbles to hold it in place.  
  
“You're staring.” She retorts as she turns to him, her eyes still slitted for some unknown reason. The fox quickly blinks and looks at the ground.  
  
“Sorry, we should move out now.” He says as his symbol appears on his shoulder. The girl nods as hers appears and the fox and wolf bound into the trees, following an unseen path. They don’t talk for a very long time as they ran, the forest soon thinning out to a barren plain. They both skid to a halt, an army right in front of them.  
  
‘Azaziel …if I tell you to run, you run.’ The wolf begins to glow brightly while the fox looks at her with wide eyes. The army parts down the middle, allowing a tall male through. He had short orange hair with chocolate brown eyes; he wore clothes similar to Jerica's minus the coat. He smirks and he spreads his arms wide.  
  
“Welcome back Oceania, we’ve missed you.” The girl’s shoulders go stiff at the name.  
  
“I don’t go by that name anymore.” The man laughs, a sickening laugh that had him throwing his head back.  
  
“Oh come now, do you really think you outrun your past by changing your name, sister dear?” the fox’s eyes grow wider in shock at the man’s last remark, his eyes flickering over to the girl whose shoulders had slumped.  
  
“Oh…and who's this? You're little rebel pet?” Azaziel growls and prepares to pounce when Jerica holds her arm out, her palm facing him. Azaziel looks at her, her eyes piercing his.  
  
“Remember what I told you? Run, run and don’t look back.” She turns her eyes back to the man and his army, clenching her outstretched hand, an intense blue-white light surrounding her frame. A wind picks up; strong enough to blow the fox back to the tree line, the young man changing back as he hit a tree. He pushes himself up enough to see Jerica lower her arm, the man that he now knew was her brother had black energy with a red outline surrounding him.  
  
“You think you can defeat me? You and what army?” the man yells to her and she just shakes her head, raising a glowing hand.  
  
“I don’t need an army to take care of yours; incinerate all those in your way, Kudo number fifty-two!” a blast erupts from the girl’s palm, enveloping the man’s army. Once it had died, the man was the only one left, a crazed angry look in his eyes.  
  
“You…you…YOU CRAZY BITCH!” he shouts, disappearing for a second before appearing in front of the girl, his hand wrapped around her throat. Azaziel quickly gets to his feet and begins to run towards the pair.  
  
‘…stop…’ he skids to a halt, the man holding the girl out to the side so she wasn’t obscuring his view, her glowing eyes fixed on the fox, her hands holding the man’s wrist tightly.  
  
‘I’d…never…forgive myself…if…you died…because of…me.’ The girl’s voice rings through his mind, his eyes still shocked.  
  
“So the rebel fox has a face, come to watch your new recruit die?” the girl fights in his grip, turning his attention to her.  
  
“You think…she would be would be happy…Thaine…with you…like this?” Jerica gasps as Thaine’s grip tightens on her neck, one of his eyes going black with a yellow pupil.  
  
“Don’t you dare! Talk about her to me, you lost that right when you left, right when she needed you the most!” the girl chuckles dryly as she fixes her brother in her glowing gaze.  
  
“There was nothing I could do, she was too sick by the time we found out.” She says, the glow in her eyes slowly dimming as tears swim in her orbs.  
  
“She was my sister-in-law Thaine; you think I don’t miss her?” Thaine's grip seems to loosen on the girl’s neck as he bows his head. Azaziel begins to move forward when Thaine's head shoots up, his grip re-doubling around her neck, his energy spiking around them.  
  
“You still left me!” he shakes the girl, his grip like a vice on her neck. The fox quickly points his hands to the ground, the cracked earth beginning to shake as large roots spring forth, heading straight for the pair. Thaine drops the girl as he jumps and leaps away from the roots, the wolf’s body crumpling on the ground. A lone root snakes away from the ones attacking the man to the unconscious body of the wolf, taking her to Azaziel’s side. The fox kneels down beside her and lifts her into his arms, his glowing eyes falling on the long purple-blue bruises on her neck.  
  
“When I get my hands on you, rebel, you'll be sorry you ever crossed me!” Thaine yells from the other end of the plain. The fox frowns before turning to walk back to the trees, disappearing in the shadows the trees casted. Once he had disappeared the roots ceased moving, falling back in the crevices, the earth moving to rebury them. Thaine's energy slowly dies away as his eye returns to normal. He scoffs as he turns on his heel and walks the opposite way, disappearing in a swirl of dust, five dark human-shaped shadows in the distance disappearing with him.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My good friend helped me with the start of this chapter
> 
> Hi Parry and thanks for the help

A hill, with the grass blades the color of spring leaves blowing in the gentle wind, the hill itself overlooks a vast field with the reaches of snowy peaked mountains in the far distance, as if a great wall of stone and ice stood against the golden setting sun that washed the dancing clouds above with shades of pink and crimson. Azaziel walks across the field, his hair blowing in the wind, clutching the unconscious girl to his chest, his face set in a frown as his eyes never left the scene in front of him. The girl’s face was peaceful, her hair trailing behind the tall man, thin black lines spiraling from the bruises around her neck, an angry red mark surrounding them. The fox’s mind kept replaying the fight he saw; the crazed look in Thaine's eyes as he choked the girl in his arms, forever burned into the back of his eyes.  
  
“You shouldn’t over think things, it’s not healthy.” Azaziel halts midstride at the soft voice, looking down at the girl as she slowly opened her eyes.  
  
“Why didn’t you tell me he was your brother?” he asks, his grip tightening on her arm and leg. She doesn’t meet his eyes as she hunched her shoulders.  
  
“Would you have trusted me if you knew?” she counters, her voice soft. Azaziel ponders this for a second, realizing she had a valid point, no one in the Resistance would have trusted her when she showed up, more likely they would have killed her on the spot.  
  
“My point exactly.” She huffs, crossing her arms as best she could. The fox blinks several times before shaking his head, a smirk creeping onto his face.  
  
“We better find someplace to stay the night; I need to take a look at your neck.” As the fox finished speaking the girl lifts her hand to touch her neck gingerly.  
  
“I'm sure its fine.” She says as the fox walked, though her voice sounded uncertain. Azaziel frown again as he neared the base of the hill.  
  
“Wait here a second.” He says as he lowers her to the ground, making sure not to jostle her neck. As he stood straight, his eyes begin to glow, a section of earth on the hill beginning to crumble away, creating a makeshift cave. He walks into the half dome, making sure the earth wouldn’t collapse on them, his eyes nearly the only thing visible in the dying light.  
  
“This will do for now.” He says as he comes back to the girl, helping her to her feet.  
  
“Why did you stay?” Azaziel’s eyes flicker over to the girl as she lowers herself to ground inside the cave, the dark capillaries having spread up the left side of her face. The fox turns to the opening and raises his hand, a slab of earth rising to cover the hole, throwing the pair into darkness. Small glowing flowers grow from the walls and roof, opening their long petals to throw light all around the small space. Azaziel turns to face the girl, who hissed as light washed over the dark marks, as she closed her left eye, small tuffs of smoke rose from them.  
  
“Are you ok?” he asks as he lowers himself to her eye level. She gives a small smile, trying to mask the pain.  
  
“Light made from pure Good magic…how'd you know?” she muses as the marks retreat down her neck to the bruises there.  
  
“One of our fighter’s got attacked by Thaine during the attack on his stronghold, the only thing that cured it was the light in the healing ward at HQ.” the fox says with a shrug.  
  
“You still didn’t answer my question.” She says with a smirk, though her eyes still showed a glow of pain. Azaziel looks away and mutters something under his breath.  
  
“I'm sorry, what was that?” she teases, leaning forward with her ear towards him. He turns his head to her, strands of hair flying around his face.   
“I wasn’t going to let you die, ok?!” his eyes flash for a second, his anger startling the girl. He huffs before moving away from the girl, pressing his back against the wall, distancing himself from the wolf, closing his eyes to try and sleep. He feels the air move before a familiar weight settles on his lap before arms wrapped around his neck. His eyes snap open as his hands go to the wolf’s waist; to push her off or hold her there he wasn’t sure.  
  
“I'm sorry, please…don’t hate me.” The girl pleads in a soft voice, warm tears falling onto the fox’s shirt, her shoulders shaking as she buried her face into his neck. The fox’s eyes widen, realization dawning in his pupils. She grew up being hated by her own tribe; of course, she would break down when someone she cared about looked just like everyone in her tribe did. His hand comes up to tangle in her hair as his arm hugged her back.  
  
“Jerica…you stupid wolf, I could never hate you, no matter what you do.” He says, squeezing her tightly, wrapping the soft strands of hair around his long fingers. His fingers brush over the bruises on her neck and she gasps in pain, her arms tightening around his neck.  
  
“I'm sorry, that should have healed by now.” The girl pulls away, the purple mark seeming to stare angrily at the fox, and shakes her head.  
  
“No…Thaine knew that you would heal me of the infection so he stained my energy with his, if he had held on any longer he would have killed me…his Allies call it the Blight.” She says, Azaziel rummaging around for bandages as she spoke. Once he had pulled them out he crushed some of the herbs he had collected in his palm onto them, wrapping it around the girl’s neck, being careful not to tie it too tightly.  
  
“The herb won’t help, ya know.” The wolf says as Azaziel leans back against the wall.  
  
“It’s worth a shot.” He says with a shrug. Jerica brings her hand up to touch the material, the feeling of Thaine’s hand still there.  
  
“I'm sorry I didn’t tell you the truth about me.” She says as she falls to her side. Azaziel shrugs and pulls her down onto his chest, the girl’s eyes softening at the sound of his steady heartbeat.  
  
“It doesn’t matter, what does is that we end this war.” He says, his eyes starting to droop with fatigue.  
  
“I might have something in mind, but we’re going to need everyone.” The girl mutters as she drifts off to sleep, the fox following shortly after.


	6. Chapter 6

A ruined castle looms on a hill, dark overcast clouds blocking out the sun, the dark stone spread out on the checked floor, a crystal chandelier broken amongst the blocks. Azaziel bounds up the hill, his ears, and nose twitching to see if there was any danger. Jerica slowly padding up behind him, the bandages acting like a collar around her fur.  
‘The entrance should be somewhere here.’ Azaziel mutters, sniffing around a large section of stone and Jerica huffs, her front paws glowing for a second, a pile of rock glowing to Azaziel’s right, a trap door coming to view.  
  
‘A simple illusion spell, they’re getting sloppy.’ She retorts before changing back, her symbol appearing on the bandages before fading. Azaziel yips at her before also changing back. They both walk to the trap door and Azaziel bends down to grasp the handle only to pull it back as electricity dances along the metal.  
  
“You were saying?” he mutters as his eyes begin to glow along with Jerica’s and the charge soon begins to die. This time Jerica goes to open the door and she meets no resistance. She yanks the handle up to reveal a ladder leading down to a tunnel.  
  
“Great, another tunnel.” She says as she drops down the hole, moving as Azaziel followed suit. The earth walls were lined with stripes of material; blue, green, red and white to represent the four types of elemental magic in the world. Azaziel walks up to them and pulls a blue one down, tossing it to the surprised girl.  
  
“Wrap that around your neck, you know what he’s like.” The girl nods and wraps the material around the bandages like a scarf, most of it covering the lower half of her face like a muffler while a length of it went over her left shoulder.  
  
“Now you look like you’re a part of the infiltration squad.” The girl frowns and punches his shoulder as he chuckles, both of them following the lit torches to a large cavern, the ledge overlooking the dining area, many Resistance members similarly dressed as the pair, the chatter silencing as they all looked up at them.  
  
“Warm welcome as always.” The wolf mutters with dry humor, taking a couple of steps back before running at the edge, leaping off the rock and grabbing a hold of one of the chains that hung from the roof, swinging to the other side of the cavern with ease. She lets the chain go as she turns back to Azaziel.  
  
“I’ll be in the training room if you need me.” She shouts before turning to walk down the tunnel behind her, the darkness seeming to wrap around her frame.  
  
“Azaziel! Over here!” the young man turns to see two teens running up the slope to him.  
  
“Hey guys, how'd your missions go?” he asks once they reached him, the male punching his arm, hard.  
  
“Ow! What the hell was that for Jarell?!” he yells at the tall redhead with blood red eyes, rubbing the spot he had been hit.  
  
“You were supposed to be back nearly two days ago! We were starting to think that that wolf had thrown you over to HIM!” the last word was hissed and the fox’s glare evaporates as he looks across the cavern to where said wolf had disappeared.  
  
“She wouldn’t do that…” he trails off at the memory of her near lifeless eyes begging him to run and save himself.  
  
“How do you know?!” Azaziel, she was Thaine’s right hand, how do you know she's not selling us out?” the girl with near sky blue eyes says, hugging his arm to her body.  
  
“Because she nearly died just so I could get away!” he snatches his arm back, the young girl stumbling back, the cavern shaking as his eyes glowed brightly. A snake made of water covers the dining hall and the group as some spikes in the roof comes loose, the snake’s body enveloping all of them. Azaziel turns to the snake’s head as it looks at him.  
  
“You know better than to get angry down here Azaziel.” The snake’s voice sounded exactly like Jerica’s and Azaziel just nods, his eyes ceasing to glow. He turns back to the pair, who were watching the snake retreat down the tunnel it came from with wide eyes and slack Jaws.  
  
“AZAZIEL!” the group flinches at the booming voice that echoed throughout the cavern.  
  
“Sounds like you're in trouble,” Jarell says with a slight smirk as the fox takes a few steps back from the edge, shooting a glare at the red-head before running at the edge, leaping with ease. A little blue robin lands on his shoulder, its sky blue eyes watching him as he walked down a different tunnel to what the wolf did.  
  
“You don’t need to follow me, Jaylene, it’s getting irritating.” He holds his finger to the robin and she steps onto it, chirping sadly.  
  
“Off you go.” She takes flight, flying back to the dining area, and the fox sighs as he continues down the tunnel, torchlight flickering across his now tired looking eyes.


	7. Chapter 7

The blue haired girl throws punch after punch at the tough punching bag, sweat causing her visible skin to have a light shine. She had shed her coat and shirt, both in a pile near a bench nearby. As she pulls her fists back, drops of blood fall to the mat from her knuckles, the skin breaking from the onslaught of pressure. The girl pants heavily as she wipes her forehead on her scarf, ignoring the sting in her hands.  
  
“That looks like it hurts.” She turns her eyes to the entrance, the robin girl standing there. The wolf shrugs her shoulders as she looks at her hands.  
  
“You might not believe this, but I've been through worse.” She says to the girl, turning back to the punching bag. The smaller girl steps closer to the wolf, her eyes watching as the wolf released different leg and arm combos on the inanimate object. The robin notices a black tattoo on the back of the wolf’s neck, just above her scarf, as her hair moved around her body; it was in the shape of a rose with gaps between the ink and skin. The robin’s eyes widen as her brain remembers the symbol.  
  
“That's Thaine's symbol!” she exclaims, her hand flying up to cover her mouth as the wolf halts mid-strike. The robin begins to breathe heavily in fear as the assassin turns her glowing eyes to the smaller girl.  
  
“Please…I'm sorry…don’t kill me.” The girl begs as the wolf walks to stand in front of her. After what seemed like forever to the robin, the wolf cracks a grin, placing a hand on the girl’s head.  
  
“I'm not going to kill you, you're not my enemy.” She says and the robin looks at her in disbelief.  
  
“My mark is black; those loyal to Thaine's cause have red marks with black outlines, you have nothing to worry about.” The robin nods her head as the wolf moves back to the punching bag.  
  
“You had me skeptical for a second there.” The girls turn to the entrance as Azaziel steps out of the shadows.  
  
“How long were you standing there?!” the robin demands, glaring at the fox.  
  
“Awhile.” The wolf and fox say in unison, the girl back to punching the bag. The robin looks between the two, a glowing robin symbol appearing over her right eye. Azaziel watches as she flies out of the room, her little wings flapping quickly.  
  
“How'd she get into the Resistance?” Jerica asks between punches.  
  
“She has extensive knowledge on the magic in the world and how to counteract it for the non-Mystic fighters,” Azaziel explains as he moves further into the room.  
  
“That probably explains how she knew what the rose meant.” She stops for a second to halt the momentum of the bag, the fox noticing her bloody knuckles.  
  
“Why do you do that to yourself?” he asks as he takes her hands in his, inspecting the cuts and bruises.  
  
“No pain, no gain.” She says with a shrug before Azaziel leads her over to the bench, sitting her down beside him as he pulls more bandages from his bag.  
  
“I swear, you have an infinite amount of that stuff.” The wolf scoffs as he begins to wrap her left hand first, going down to wrap her wrist as well.  
  
“I had a feeling that we would get injured a bit on our mission so I packed extra.” He says as he wraps the base of her fingers, clipping the edge down on the underside of her wrist. He moves to wrap her other hand while the wolf clenched and unclenched her fist, testing the bandages.  
  
“Well, you were correct, though I was the one more injured out of the two of us.” She muses as he finishes wrapping her right hand. She also tests that hand before getting to her feet, collecting her shirt and coat, getting dressed as Azaziel stood, his hands in his coat pockets.  
  
“What did he want?” she asks as she finishes buttoning her shirt. The fox shakes his head.  
  
“Just that I should be more responsible and careful around you.” He says and the girl scoffs at that as she pulls her coat on, un-tucking her hair and scarf.  
  
“What’s it going to take to get some trust around here?” she huffs as they walk out of the training room, the ends of their coats billowing behind them. A loud horn sounds throughout the tunnels, reverberating off of the stone walls.  
  
“They’ve found us!” the pair quickly run to the end of the tunnel, Resistance fighters dividing into their teams and manning the entrance tunnels while the non-fighters headed for the escape exits.  
  
“I thought you said they weren’t following us!” Jerica shouts over the ruckus, Azaziel’s eyes falling on a red glow emitting from her sleeve. He quickly grabs her wrist and pulls out a small tracker from the material.  
  
“I swear I didn’t know.” She says as they look at it.  
  
“I believe you; he must have put it on you during your struggle,” Azaziel says as they duck behind some rocks, Alley forces clad in black swarming in the entrance tunnels.  
  
“He wants me back, so long as I'm with you guys, we stand a chance.” The wolf says as she notices the Allies searching for something or someone.  
  
“That’s why you’ve got to get out of here.” Azaziel hisses, covering his head as a fireball explodes on his hiding place.  
  
“No, I've got an idea, toss the tracker to me.” She holds her hands open and the fox tosses the small piece of technology into her palms.  
  
“They don’t know we found it, so, therefore, he wouldn’t either, if I can get this onto one of those guys, it'll distract them long enough for everyone to get out.” She says as she slowly creeps out into view.  
  
“I’ll meet you at the west exit.” She says as he joins her.  
  
“I'm going to hold you to that.” He says before swooping down and kissing her cheek. The wolf’s eyes widen as she turns to face him but he was already gone. The girl can’t help but crack a grin as she walks to the ledge.  
  
“Hey! You guys want me?! Well here I am!” she shouts, both groups of fighters stopping to look up at her.  
  
“Resistance fighters retreat!” out of the corner of her eye, she sees Azaziel give the order, the teams quickly making their exit.  
  
“Leave them, the Master wants her.” The Allies swarm into the cavern, black scarves wrapped around their necks.  
  
“Naw, he couldn’t send more of you, oh wait.” She taunts, hiding the tracker in her closed fist. The remark had its desired effect, many shifting their weight uncomfortably.  
  
“How could you?! They were your brothers and sisters.” one shouts up to her. The wolf’s eyes glow more brightly than ever before, her face twisted into a murderous glare.  
  
“The only family member I have is the bastard that slaughtered countless tribes, including my own, and you call him Master!” she yells, her energy aura surrounding her like flames.  
  
“And he’s going to pay!” she shouts as the torches go out and the cavern was plunged into darkness, the only light being from the wolf’s energy as she leaped into the middle of the crowd.  
  
“Blow my enemies away, Kudo fifty-three!” she spins around as a tornado forms around her, the assassins flying back into the walls. She quickly rushes over to one and slips the tracker into the folds of his scarf before letting her energy die away as she ducked into the West exit tunnel, the torches having gone out there out there too. A pair of glowing green eyes could be seen near the end of the tunnel.  
  
“Two high-level Kudos in the space of less than twenty-four hours, I have to admit I'm impressed,” Azaziel says she runs up to him.  
  
“Oh shut it you.” She pulls him by his collar to plant a kiss on his lips for a fleeting moment.  
  
“Now come on, we’ve got to get moving.” She pulls the breathless fox after her into the open night air.  
  
“Can you bring it down?” she asks as they run and he nods his head, his eyes glowing brighter as the rocks above the exit coming down with a crash to block it, rumbling telling the pair that the other exits had been sealed as well.  
  
“That will set them back a couple of weeks, hopefully.” She says as they slow to a halt on top of a small hill.  
  
“We need to keep moving, the others…hmph!” Azaziel silences the wolf by smashing his lips to hers, pulling her closer.  
  
“Payback, my dear wolf.” He says when they pull apart.  
  
“One that I enjoy, my sly fox.” She answers, slightly out of breath. The pair move away and start to run down the hill, disappearing into the shadows.


	8. Chapter 8

A fox and wolf bound through a section of forest with large oak trees, both animals heading to the tallest tree of all, the trunk was the thicker than normal trees and it towered almost as high as the clouds. They pad up to it and slip under one of its large roots, into a secret tunnel.  
  
‘Sheesh, what’s with all the underground stuff?’ Jerica mutters in her mind.  
  
‘This is the entrance for land animals; the tree itself is the actual base and the fighters from the bird tribes can get in from above, and only the ones we recognize.’ Azaziel replies as a glow envelops them both, changing back to their human forms.  
  
“Azaziel! Thank god you made it.” Jarell runs up to the pair looking slightly out of breath.  
  
“What's wrong with you?” the wolf asks with a raised brow. Jarell points behind him to where the sound of shouts and loud yips echoed from.  
  
“There's a baby kit causing a ruckus and none of the foxes know whose it is.” The pair look at each other before jogging down the tunnel to the enormous trunk of the tree, stairs spiraling up the sides with doors leading off from them. They look down to see that Jarell was right many of the parent fighters were trying to get a hold of a small kit, its fur was red with streaks of orange going through it, its eyes a striking green with an obvious blue outline.  
  
“That’s strange I've never seen eyes with two colors that distinctive before.” The wolf muses and the little kit looks up at the sound of her voice. Its ears twitch as a bright glow enveloped its body. The older fighters breathe a sigh of relief as they walk away, leaving it to the wolf and fox. A young girl stood in front of the pair; she had long brown hair tied into a ponytail with a blue ribbon, eyes the same color as her fox form, her little face in a beaming grin, she wore a light blue dress with no sleeves, her fox symbol fading from her chest.  
  
“Mommy, Daddy!” the little girl launches herself into the air and into the arms of a very shocked fox.  
  
“Uh…What?” he asks the equally shocked wolf, whose wide eyes were on the girl as she snuggled into the fox’s neck.  
  
“Don’t look at me, I'm just as confused as you.” She says, holding her hands up. The girl looks to the wolf, her little face scrunched up in concentration.  
  
“You're my mommy and daddy’s past selves; they don’t know I used my Time magic.” The wolf face-palms as the girl looks at her confused.  
  
“Now they do, if we’re them our thoughts and feelings are now their memories.” She says and the girl looks sad.  
  
“Are you mad at me?” she sniffs and the wolf looks taken back.  
  
“No, no not at all.” She says as small tears prick the corners of the girl’s eyes. Just as the wolf moves closer, a gale picks up as golden lightning strikes the open area in front of them. Azaziel holds the girl tightly as Jerica steps front of them, an arm in front of the pair protectively, her eyes glowing brightly as her energy flared around her. As the smoke and lightning died they could see two tall figures, their hands raised in surrender.  
  
“WAIT! We’re not here to fight!” the tall male shouts, though the woman beside him had an energy aura around her frame, exactly the same as the young girl in front of the fox.  
  
“You know me, Azaziel; she's not going to lower that until we identify ourselves.” The woman said as her aura died down, her long dark blue hair falling down her back, her blue colored lips pulled into a smirk as she stepped forward, her heels making a sound on the stone underfoot. She wore black jeans with a dark blue top, exposing her midriff, which had no shoulders and long sleeves that trailed out near her wrists, a long blue scarf wrapped around her neck, the end going over her shoulder, the material seeming to move on its own.  
  
“My name is Oceania.” She says with a bow, her slitted blue-swirling eyes never leaving the wolf in front of her, the girl’s hard look shattering at the name. Oceania stands straight as the man steps forward. His sandy brown hair was cut but was still long enough to frame his face, his emerald green eyes kind as he looked at the pair. He wore clothes almost exact to Azaziel’s bar the fact he had black fingerless gloves on and two swords strapped to his back.  
  
“I'm Azaziel, also known as Parry.” The Azaziel holding the child eyes widen as he looks at his future self. Jerica looks between the two in front of her before her eyes settled on Oceania.  
  
“Show me the back of your neck.” She demands and the woman chuckles before turning around, lifting her hair out of the way and pulling the scarf down to show the rose tattoo, the ink on her skin as black as ebony.  
  
“Always so protective, I remember when I was like that, still am.” The woman says as she turns back to the pair.  
  
“Well with everything that they’re going through, can you blame her?” Parry asks as Jerica lowers her arm, her energy following suit.  
  
“Mommy, daddy.” Azaziel sets the little girl on the ground and she runs towards Parry, who scoops her up into his arms, both of them hugging each other tightly.  
  
“Emily Maree Burrow; how many times have we told you not to use Time Magic?!” Oceania scolds the little girl, who tries to curl into her father’s chest to escape it.  
  
“I'm sorry, but you always said that when you first got together with dad you were extremely happy and I just wanted to see that.” Emily sobs, clutching her father’s shirt in her tiny fist as tears fell from her eyes. Her mother’s eyes soften at the sight and she lifts the girl into her arms, kissing away the tears.  
  
“Oh Emily…how can I stay mad at you?” Oceania makes her animal ears appear on her head, making them twitch, and Emily’s face breaks out into a huge smile as she clambers onto her back and begins to play with them. Parry watches the pair with a smile before turning to the younger pair.  
  
“I apologize for our daughter’s antics, I pray she didn’t cause too much fuss.” Jerica shakes her head while Azaziel steps forward slightly.  
  
“Not at all, she shocked us, but nothing we can’t handle.” Oceania’s smile wavers slightly as she looks at her past self, whose eyes were sad.  
  
“Emily has an uncle waiting for us to bring her home.” She says her voice kind and sincere, and Jerica looks at her with wide eyes at what she meant.  
  
“You'll know what to do when the time comes.” Parry as he stands closer to his girls, leaning closer to Emily.  
  
“Em, time to go home.” The girl nods her head, her eyes beginning to glow gold as the three of them looked at the pair, the little girl waving at them.  
  
“Bye-bye mommy and daddy’s younger selves, it was nice seeing and meeting you!” gold lightning dances around the trio as they slowly fade from sight, the pair waving them off.  
  
“Well, that was a shocking development.” The wolf says as she walks to the stairs that lead to the hideouts training room. Azaziel watches her disappear into the room before shaking his head.  
  
“Hey, where'd the kit go?” Azaziel turns to see Jarell and the robin walking towards him.  
  
“She went home.” He replies as he moves towards the stairs, the pair watching him with a confused look.  
  
“She...how'd you know it was a she?” Jaylene pipes in and the fox just looked at him with a grin.  
  
“I just did.” He leaves the pair confused as he disappears into the training room, the wolf already pummeling a punching bag.  
  
“Do you ever take a break?” he mutters as he watches her, her focus never wavering.  
  
“Not since this war started, I was a part of the Elite Six, so if we weren’t on missions we were training or teaching the other fighters, and I use the word ‘teaching’ lightly.” She says, pausing to remove her coat and shirt as well as her shoes. She motions for him to do the same as she sets up a space in the middle of the room. The fox removes his coat and shoes before joining her on the mat.  
  
“Right, rules are; no magic and no killing, first one to give up loses.” She says as they circle each other, pulling her ponytail higher on her head, the fox nodding his in agreement. They stop circling, waiting for the other to make the first move. The wolf is fast as she pushes off towards the fox, fist raised, but he’s just as fast and strong, parrying and redirecting her blows with his own. The wolf blocks his spinning kicks with ease and aims for a kick to his ribs only for him to grab her leg and throw her to the ground. She quickly rolls out of the way before his foot connected with the mat, flipping to her feet and putting her guard up as he came after her, ducking under his swing and jumping over his sweep kick before kicking at his body, her foot connecting with his chest and sending him back, landing heavily before rolling back onto his feet, both panting heavily as their eyes began to glow. They push off and meet in the middle, blows and parries connecting with each other. The wolf bends back away from a kick but instead of coming back up she flipped and the fox rocked back to avoid her feet connecting with his chin. They both put space between them; the fox leaping back while the wolf back-flipped.  
  
“Assassins aren’t taught to do that.” Azaziel wipes his brow with his shirt sleeve, keeping his eyes on the wolf.  
  
“No, they're taught to end the fight before it’s even started, but they don’t know what to do if their target fights back.” She says as they begin to circle again.  
  
“Let me guess; you tried to teach them other moves.” The wolf’s face looks grim and she nods.  
  
“’Tried’ being the key word in that sentence.” She says as they stop again. Azaziel is the first to move, rushing at her, only to have her get inside his guard and throw him to the mat. She quickly gets on top of him and tries to hold his arms by his head but he breaks her hold before she could and manages to throw her off, rolling away and getting up, his breath coming in pants as was hers.  
  
“What are you two doing?” a shrill voice turns their attention to the door where Jarell and Jaylene were standing, the girl’s eyes wide as she looked at the pair.  
  
“We’ll call it a draw, Azaziel.” The wolf says as she walks towards her things, gathering them up and heading towards the shower room. The fox watches her go, disappearing into the room, before sighing and getting to his feet. As he walks back to his stuff he nabs a towel hanging a piece of equipment.  
  
“What do you pair want?” he asks as he sits down, rubbing his face and the back of his neck with the towel, the two of them rushing up to him.  
  
“Why are you so infatuated with that wolf?! She used to be the enemy and she probably still is!” the girl shrieks, her eyes seeming to blaze as she stared at the fox.  
  
“She’s right, and did you know that Thaine is her brother? Or that ‘Jerica’ isn’t even her real name?” Jarell adds, his eyes watching his best friend as he stood. Azaziel’s eyes glow brightly in anger as he looks at the pair.  
  
“She’d never betray me or the Resistance because she has put her life on the line to just to make sure we either get the information we need or escape without causalities and yes Jarell, I do know that Thaine is her brother and that Jerica isn’t her real name, its Oceania.” He says and the pair back away from the furious fox as the tree shakes.  
  
“Now stop telling me that I shouldn’t trust her because I trust her with my life, I wish I could say the same about you two!!” their eyes widen before they rush out of the room. Azaziel takes a deep breath to calm himself, the glow in his eyes dying down. He hears a crash from the bathroom and rushes to the door, unsure whether to enter or not.  
  
“Jerica…? Are you ok? May I come in?” he hears a scuffle of clothes and a chink of glass.  
  
“Yeah…” he hesitates for a second before stepping into the room and around the tiled wall. The room was filled with steam, no doubt from her shower, the fox barely making out the outline of the wolf.  
  
“I can’t see, Jerica.” He hears the girl sigh and she raises her hand, seeming to swat something away from her head and the steam dissipates, leaving the room feeling colder. The wolf was leaning on the sink, her head bowed with wet clumps of her hair falling around her face the mirror in front of her shattered, shards missing and the point of impact obviously from her fist, which was now clutching the sink tightly, her visible knuckles turning white. Azaziel takes a step forward when Jerica holds a bandaged hand and he halts midstride.  
  
“Be careful, there’s glass.” He looks at the tiled ground, where there were indeed glass shards.  
  
“I’ll be right back.” He quickly ducks out of the room, leaving the wolf in the now cold bathroom, only to return with his shoes tied to his feet. He walks over the glass shards, many crunching underfoot, as he made his way to the girl. She tries to move away but the fox catches her wrists and swings her around to face him, her hair still hiding her face from him.  
  
“What happened?” Azaziel gently brushes her hair behind her ear with his fingers, a frown becoming evident on his face. There were cuts on her cheekbones and neck, just above the bandages, blood oozing in droplets from them.  
  
“It happened when I punched the mirror, it’s nothing.” She says, not meeting his eyes.  
  
“Why didn’t they heal like the wounds on your side?” he asks as he grabs a wet towel nearby to dab at her cheeks.  
  
“These were made by self-infliction, my magic doesn’t allow it.” She mutters, pushing away his hand slightly. He huffs before running his thumb over a cut, the skin healing as he did. They don’t say anything to each other as he continues, tilting her head so he could get the cuts on her neck.  
  
“You shouldn’t listen to them, they don’t know what you’ve been through.” He says, forcing her to look at him by holding her chin.  
  
“I just hate that I'm being judged on one bad decision I made.” She says with tears in her eyes.  
  
“Who cares what you did? I trust you and that’s enough for the Head so if someone has a problem with you being here, they can come talk to me.” He pulls her to his chest and holds her tightly, his face buried in her damp hair, the smell of flowers filling his senses. He feels the wolf shift in his arms, her bright eyes appearing in front of his before he felt something warm press against his lips. He closes eyes and presses back slightly, tasting salt on her lips from the tears. They both hear a loud gasp from the entrance and they break apart quickly, turning their wide eyes to see Jaylene standing there, her eyes brimming with tears and her face filled with the look of hurt. Before they could say anything the robin runs off, tears streaming down her face.  
  
“Jaylene!” the fox goes to run after her but the wolf holds onto his arm, stopping him.  
  
“Better let me.” She says before she pulls on her shirt, coat, and shoes.  
  
“I don’t think she’ll listen to you Jerica.” He says as she walked to the door.  
  
“I have to try, Azaziel…oh and call me Oceania; it’s my name after all.” She says with a grin before she runs out the room, the fox hearing the sound of four paws hit the mats before they disappeared out of the room. He walks back into the training room, collecting his coat and slipping it on as his symbol appears and a green-eyed fox could be seen running up the stairs of the tree, disappearing into a doorway.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am sorry to anyone who sympathizes with a specific part of this chapter, I do not mean anything by it

A black and white wolf runs past surprised Resistance members, all moving out of the way as she continued to climb the tree, the animal seeming to follow a certain scent. She soon reached the topmost platform where a group of large males had surrounded the sobbing robin girl who cowered near the door.  
  
“Hey sweet cheeks, whats with those tears?” one sneers down to the small girl, his friends joining in.  
  
“Did your boyfriend mistreat you?” another one asks as he squats down near her and she tries to curl away as she sobbed harder. As they all snickered and reached for her, the wolf growls and leaps in front of the robin, her canines exposed as her lips drew back in a snarl, her ears flat on her skull.  
  
“Whoa! Where'd that come from?” they stumble back as the wolf begins to glow. Once that ceased Oceania stood there, her eyes glowing brightly as she glared at the group, who backed away from the ex-Ally fighter.  
  
“Do you boys like to pick on girls huh? Let’s see how you go when one fights back.” She turns to the robin and helps her to her feet.  
  
“You might want to move.” She says and leads the girl to the stairs.  
  
“Dude, let’s just go, we can’t fight her.” One says as the wolf turned back to them.  
  
“The hell we can’t, there's six of us and one of her, its time someone put this traitor in her place.” The group surges forward only to stop as the girl raised a hand.  
  
“Since you all hate me so much, I’ll make you a deal, if one of you can pull the scarf from my neck, I’ll leave, but if I manage to knock you all down in twelve hits or less, you all have to march down to the Head and tell him what you’ve been doing, deal?” she holds out her hand, waiting for one of them to take it. The largest one steps forward and takes her hand, a smirk of triumph crossing her face. The wolf pulls her hand down, pulling the boy with it, and her knee shoots up to connects with his gut, making him bow further as she swung her fist to connect with the side of his head and he hits the platform hard. She lifts her glowing eyes to the five left.  
  
“I'm down to ten hits and there's five of you left, so…whose next?” two run at her, hoping to overpower the smaller girl but she ducks under them, her fists connecting with their knees. They fall to the ground with a scream of pain as she stands.  
  
“Eight.” Is all she says to the remaining three.  
  
“I told you we couldn’t fight her!” it was the younger looking one that shouts to the fallen three as they slowly circle their way to the stairs, the wolf moving away from their fallen comrades.  
  
“I take that you are giving up?” she asks and the youngest nods his head as they disappear down the stairs. She walks to the robin and holds her arm as she leads her down the stairs, into a separate room which turned out to be the robin’s bedroom. It looked small with all the bookshelves on the walls, a bed seated close to the desk in the corner which held unfinished paperwork and open books. The taller girl leads the shaking robin to her bed, pulling back the covers before laying her down, covering her up before standing straight.  
  
“I'm going to get Jarell and Azaziel, you try and get some sleep.” The wolf walks to the door as she says this, her coat flapping around her legs.  
  
“Why did you help me?” the ex-assassin halts at the door, hand on the light switch, and she turns her head back to the bed, a smile on her face.  
  
“I told you, I'm not the enemy; no matter how others make me out to be…now get some sleep while I go get your friends.” She switches out the light and slips out of the now dark room, locking the door behind her. She transforms and races down the stairs, occasionally sniffing at the doors. She stops on the third flight of stairs as Jarell and Azaziel come out of the room. She barks at them to get their attention, both turning their attention, both turning their eyes to her.  
  
“Oceania? What’s wrong?” Azaziel kneels down to her and she takes his sleeve in her teeth, pulling him along.  
  
“Come on Jarell.” Azaziel as his symbol appears, a dog symbol appearing on the back of Jarell’s hand. The fox and a white husky follow the wolf as she bounds up the stairs.  
  
‘What happened?’ Jarell asks as they ran, the wolf not answering, the girl showing the memories of what she saw.  
  
‘Oh god!’ was all the pair said as they reached their destination, the wolf changing back to open the door. The two young men change back before slipping into the room.  
  
“She might be sleeping so please be careful.” She whispers as she steps into the room and closing the door. Jarell’s eyes blazed and small flames danced along his hair as he stood there, the air growing warmer.  
  
“Jarell, calm down man, we don’t need this place going up in flames,” Azaziel says, keeping a safe distance from the fire user, his eyes glowing along with the wolf’s.  
  
“Why?...why wouldn’t she fight back?” the flames die down but his eyes still glowed.  
  
“Because I never learned how to fight.” A small voice chirps from the bed and the three fighters look towards it, the girl sitting up slowly.  
  
“Why didn’t you use your magic? You're an air user aren’t you?” the wolf asks and the bird nods her head.  
  
“I've lost my touch with my magic, I haven’t used it since I was a kid.” She says and the wolf looks to Azaziel with a frown.  
  
“Why didn’t you tell us?” he asks, a frown also on his face.  
  
“I was going too, but we’ve been so busy with missions and moving that I couldn’t,” she says as Jarell sits down beside her, the bed sinking under his weight, hugging her shoulders tightly. The dog turns his eyes to the wolf that leaned against the doorframe, her arms crossed under her chest.  
  
“Can you help?” the fox and wolf’s heads shoot up, their wide eyes fixed on the fire user.  
  
“I…I can but my methods are harsh and brutal.” She says as she blinks at Jarell, a little shocked that he asked.  
  
“You were an Elite Six member, so you know how to train someone how to connect with their magic.” Jaylene pipes in, understanding what Jarell was getting at.  
  
“Well you two did your homework, I only trained the Water users, briefly with the Air at best. I'm not sure I'm the best one to be asking given my background.” She says but the two of them seemed to be fixated on the idea.


	10. Chapter 10

Azaziel leaned on his knee, seated on a branch above the open training battlefield, watching as Jarell and Jaylene stood opposite to Oceania, the wolf seeming to be glaring at the pair, her hands stuffed into her coat pockets as she sulked.  
  
“I can’t believe I let you two talk me into this.” She shouts to them as her eyes begin to shine.  
  
“Most of our magic is controlled by certain emotions.” She begins, snakes of water flying around the group from unknown sources. The fox watches as a look of malice crossed the wolf’s face, the water shaking and separating before freezing into spears, the points of each ice pick facing the pair front of her. Fire instantly comes to Jarell’s hands as the spears fly towards the pair. A circle forms around them before it erupts into a column of fire, the spears melting when they came into contact, steam billowing back to the wolf before it formed back into water.  
  
“Fire users use their anger and rage in their attack as it amplifies their flames, Water users are able to use all their emotions and their attacks adapt according to what they’re feeling at the time, Earth users are strong-willed and determined and the earth attacks are only as strong as the user, however, I have never worked with an Air user long enough to know what their trigger emotion is.” The wolf explains as the fire dies and she circles them, the robin hidden behind the taller young man.  
  
“Fire is weak against Water but strong with Air, that’s how most teams are formed, we subconsciously gravitate to ones that have the magic that makes us stronger, it’s why Jarell chose you as his partner.” Jaylene looks up at Jarell as he grits his teeth and avoids looking at her as the wolf smirks at them, the three of them had glowing eyes though the robin’s were dim.  
  
“Let’s try this.” A torrent of water shoots from around Oceania’s body, heading straight towards the robin. Fire blazes to meet the water as Jarell steps in front of her, steam billowing from the impact point. The wolf frowns and the torrent doubles in size, forcing the dog to his knee, Jarell’s face hard with concentration.  
  
“That’s enough!” the robin calls, her shocked eyes on the fight but the wolf ignores her as she steps forward, the dog groaning as he struggled to keep up his attack, the wolf showing no sign of fatigue or letting up.  
  
“I said that’s enough!!” a gust of wind shoots into the flames amplifying them greatly and the wolf is forced to leap to the side as her attack is over-powered. She rolls to her feet and smirks at the seething robin, her eyes near glowing brightly.  
  
“There we go.” She says, her grin shocking the girl enough that the gale that had picked up died instantly. Azaziel smirks as he gets to his feet, leaping high in the air before landing next to Oceania as she also stands, the wolf placing her hands on her hips.  
  
“Seems the will to help and protect is your trigger.” The wolf muses as she looks at Azaziel and he seems to understand what she was thinking.  
  
“I apologize for this Jarell.” The dog looks confused just as Azaziel pushes off towards him, forcing him to leap away from the robin. The girl watches the two friends exchange blows, a flap of material pulling her attention back as the wolf appears behind her.  
  
“Eyes on me.” She says as she punches at the girl, only to be met with a wall of solid air. The robin watches with wide eyes as the wolf frowns, leaping into the air to bring her leg down on her head but the robin looked up just in time and the ex-assassin was blown away by a gust of wind. The wolf manages to flip so she lands feet first on a branch, her eyes glowing as the fox joined her.  
  
“Her defense relies on her being able to see the attack coming.” She says to him and he nods his head as he looks around the battlefield.  
  
“Jarell relies on his flames so close combat is his weakness.” He tells her and she nods her head, holding out her hand to him. He smirks before slapping it.  
  
“Switch!” they yell before leaping down to the pair, switching partners. Jarell falls to the ground as the wolf sweeps his feet out from under him with her leg, landing with a thud. She leaps into the air and crosses her arms over herself, water covering her body as he raises his hands and fire engulfs her frame slowly getting to his feet. A pair of water covered hands grab his wrists and the fire stops as it spread to his hands and froze. Glowing red eyes met shining blue as the wolf’s feet touch the ground, a smirk on her face.  
  
“Hey! No fair!” they look over to the other pair to see the robin wrapped in vines and roots and the fox standing few feet away from her.  
  
“You weren’t really fighting me, were you?” Jarell asks his friend as he turns to him, the fox shaking his head.  
  
“We analyze our opponent or opponents and then calculate which one of us is suited to the task whether it by our magic or combat experience.” He explains as he releases the bird and the ice melts from the dog’s hands.  
  
“Oh that's what you two were doing,” Jaylene mutters sarcastically as she gets to her feet.  
  
“Yep, Azaziel was figuring out how Jarell fought while I tested how your magic works. It relies on whether you can see whats coming at you.” The wolf explains to the robin before turning her eyes to Jarell.  
  
“And you rely too much on long distance attacks; try encasing your punches and kicks in flames.” She says and he nods just as the tree shakes violently. The group drop to the ground, clinging to the bark as leaves fell around them.  
  
“Azaziel! What's going on?!” Oceania shouts to her partner, a look of pain on his face.  
  
“They’re burning the roots of the tree!” the wolf’s eyes widen as the tree stopped shaking. They quickly run back into the tree, everyone having gathered outside their rooms. The wolf walks to the edge of the platform, looking down.  
  
“Everyone, I need you to listen to me!” she shouts and they look up to her as her voice rang out above them.  
  
“All Earth and Water Mystics need to go into the root systems and repair any damage they find while all Fire users need to go out and help fight the Allies.” She yells, her voice never wavering.  
  
“Why should we trust you?!” everyone begins to murmur in agreement as a young eagle shouts up to her. As she goes to answer, Azaziel places a hand on her shoulder and steps into their view, Jaylene and Jarell doing the same.  
  
“Because she is the best chance we’ve got against Thaine and his Allies!” Azaziel shouts to them and their murmuring stops.  
  
“She knows his tactics and the way he thinks!” Jarell adds, the wolf turning her wide eyes to him.  
  
“Plus she's the best fighter we have!” the robin pipes in, her eyes now starting to glow.  
  
“Do as she says!” everyone, including the group, turns to see an older man standing in the center of the tree. That gets everyone into motion, half of the Resistance moving down the stairs, disappearing down the stairs, disappearing in groups down different tunnels surrounding the ground. The group leaps off the platform, trusting the robin, their coats billowing out around them as she slowed their descent. They land safely on the ground, surrounding the old man. The wolf stiffly bows to him.  
  
“Thank you…Sir.” She says just as stiffly before dashing down the entrance tunnel.  
  
“You had better be right about her Azaziel.” The man says as the fox goes to follow her. The fox stops and looks to the older man, his green eyes meeting the color of lapis lazuli.  
  
“I am, Grandfather.” With that, he bolts through the entrance tunnel, following the shouts from the battle above. The fox transforms so he could exit, jumping out of the way of a fireball before changing back.  
  
“You should stay below and help the others!” the fox turns his eyes to the wolf as she lands crouched in front of him, the water around her deflecting another fireball.  
  
“We’re a team, you fight, I fight.” He says as two black-clad assassins break through the defensive line, in their hands were twist bladed swords. The water wraps itself around the girl’s forearms and freezes as she blocks a strike, her makeshift armor stopping the blade with ease. The fox is forced to dodge the swipes, his foot connecting with his opponent’s right wrist, the sword flying into the air. As the assassin cradles their wrist the fox catches the sword, grasping the hilt tightly.  
  
“Now our fight is even.” He growls as his eyes once again glow angrily, the blade in his hand seeming to glow faintly with green light.  
  
“Coming your way!” the wolf leaps into the air and kicks her opponent across the side of their head, their body flying towards the fox, who grabs their clothed face and slams them to the ground. The girl appears by his side just as the dazed assassin gets to his feet, his partner clutching his sword hilt tightly. The Resistance fighters waste no time in closing the distance between them, swords connecting with steel and ice as the wolf and fox forced them back, the girl leaping up and attacking with ice encased kicks and punches while her partner showed off his swordsmanship by parrying and striking at his opponent though he had minor injuries along his arms and face. He blocks a strike and disarms the assassin yet again, the sword coming into his free hand.  
  
“They’re yours.” The fox says as vines bind the disarmed Allies, turning his eyes away as the wolf’s face erupts in a disturbing grin, her teeth having grown sharp. The fox grits his teeth as he hears the crack of ice forming before loud screams of pain erupt over the battlefield. The sound of crazed laughter has the fox turning around, his eyes going wide at the scene in front of him. The bodies of the two Allies resembled pin cushions, crimson blood dripping onto the vines from the spikes. The same blood was splattered across the wolf’s normally calm features, the girl’s face twisted into a grin that rivaled the Cheshire cat’s while her eyes held a crazed look, her hand covered in the thick liquid that dripped from the pair. The fox lurches forward, dropping the swords, his hands gripping the girl’s shoulders tightly, the sound of the battle dying away as he shook her, forcing her to look at him.  
  
“Don’t you dare! You are better than this! Don’t let that darkness pull you back into his hands!” he shouts at her before pulling her to his body, hugging her close as he closed his eyes, praying that she could hear him. He feels her hands move up his back to where her face sat on his shoulder, her breath hitching in her throat.  
  
“Azaziel…oh gods…Azaziel…please tell me…” he chuckles as he tangles his hand in her hair, holding her tightly.  
  
“It’s not my blood, I promise.” He says as he draws back, his body blocking the wolf’s view of the pincushions behind him.  
  
“I lost it again huh?” she mutters, staring down at her crimson hands. The fox sighs before looking over his shoulder.  
  
“We’ll talk about it later, right now we need you focused on this battle; think you can use another Kudo?” the wolf nods her head as her face sets in a hard line. She squats to the ground, slamming her palm to the earth, a glowing circle surrounding it.  
  
“Order everyone back inside!” she says as her eyes glow, the Rebels having managed to force the Allies away from the tree.  
  
“Resistance fighters! Retreat! Back inside!” the fighters begin to drop back, changing into their animal forms before disappearing into the tree. Azaziel quickly does the same as lines spread from the girl’s palm, spreading around the tree in a hundred kilometre radius on four sides.  
  
“Protect my allies, Four winds of the Earth; Kudo eighty-three!” four walls spring up around the tree, separating the Ally fighters from the wolf and the tree, completely. The girl pants heavily, dark circles under her eyes, her face sweating from exhaustion. Dark shadows appear on the wall in front of her and she frowns, fighting to stay awake, but it disappears along with the Allies.  
  
“Thank the Gods…” she mutters before her eyes roll back and her body slumps to the ground with a soft thud, a fox, husky and robin coming out of the tree, the three animals eyes concerned as they neared the fallen girl, more animals slowly emerging from the branches and roots. They surround the wolf as Azaziel changes back, cradling the young girl in his arms.  
  
“You amazing wolf, you saved us.” He says as he presses his lips to her temples, her face at peace as she slept, the fox brushing strands of her hair from her face.


	11. Chapter 11

The fox sits beside the wolf in the infirmary, the room cold and white, an IV attached to her arm, a breathing tube around her face as a precaution, her chest rising and falling at a steady beat. Azaziel holds her free hand in his, her warm skin comforting his troubled mind, though every now and then his eyes drifted over her face.  
  
“You should go and get some food.” Jarell and Jaylene pull up some chairs on the other side of the bed, the taller flashing his friend a grin.  
  
“I'm not hungry.” The fox mutters, not meeting their eyes as he heard his stomach growl at him.  
  
“Dude…you're always hungry.” The dog snickers as he tosses a sandwich bundled in a banana leaf to the fox, who catches it quickly.  
  
“Managed to snatch that away before those tigers got their paws on the food.” Jarell says as he shrugs his shoulders, leaning back in his chair.  
  
“How is she?” the robin asks as Azaziel unwraps the sandwich, the scent of meat and salad wafting into the air, his eyes ghosting over the sleeping girl before he took a bite, swallowing before he answered.  
  
“She’s stable but she used three high-level Kudos almost back to back, the healers don’t know when she’ll be able to wake up as she put herself into a healing trance of sorts.” He says, taking another bite of the food in his hand.  
  
“The Kudo outside…it’s in the eighty regions, plus an incantation with it…none of our fighters can do that.” Azaziel follows the robin’s eyes to the window, the East barrier swirling a few feet away from the tree.  
  
“I think there are only two people in this world that can.” The fox’s eyes once again flicker to the sleeping form in front of him.  
  
“At least we have her on our side.” Jarell says, already knowing who the second one was, his eyes also on the wolf, frowning at the bandages around her neck.  
  
“What happened there?” he asks, pointing to the cloth, the robin leaning forward to get a better look.  
  
“Thaine got to her, infected her like he did to Felix that time but he stained her with a Blight, I'm not sure if it hurts or anything.” Azaziel says, dusting off his hands and standing up to stretch his back, yawning loudly.  
  
“Dude, go get some sleep, one of us will come and get you if she wakes up.” Azaziel looks at his friends and gives a small smile.  
  
“Ok, maybe a couple of hours wouldn’t hurt.” He says with a shrug. As he moves to the door, he gives one last look at the bed before disappearing out of the room. The Air and Fire duo heave a sigh and slump back in their chairs once he left, both having a tired look in their eyes.  
  
“At least we got him to eat and sleep.” Jaylene muses as she stands to change the IV bag with a full one, pressing a button on the machine before sitting back down.  
  
“How long will those shields last?” Jarell asks the girl, keeping an eye on the girl in the bed.  
  
“I don’t know, no one has cast that high of a Kudo with an incantation before, and she did it while still recovering from two other Kudos.” The robin says, a dazed look coming to her eyes.  
  
“I’ll be back, I need to grab something, check her pulse in about five minutes and make sure its steady.” The girl stands and transforms, flying out the door, Jarell watching her with wide eyes. The robin flies up to her room, changing back mid-air, dropping to the platform with ease. She pushes the door open and slips inside, moving to her bookshelves with such haste that she forgets to close her door. She runs her finger along the bindings of the books at her eye level, moving around the room.  
  
“Is there a reason your door is open?” the robin whirls around to see a young boy leaning against the door frame. He was taller than her and had dark brown hair that was cut short. He wore a dark blue button up with the sleeves rolled up past his elbows, black jeans and black shoes. The robin’s eyes stare into his deep blue ones, his orbs glinting with mischief, before turning back to the bookshelf she was at.  
  
“I forgot to close it behind me, is there a reason you came to see me Lucius?” she says as she pulls two large leather-bound from the shelf, cradling them in her arm as she turned back to him.  
  
“Can’t an old friend come and chat?” he asks as she moves to the door.  
  
“Suppose so, but I can’t talk right now, I've got to get back to the infirmary.” The boy steps aside as she pushes past him and out onto the steps.  
  
“I’ll go with you, the infirmary is at least ten floors down.” The robin raises an eyebrow at him as she closes the door. He just grins at her as a glowing cheetah appears on his forearm. As the glow fades the sound of purring reaches the girl’s ears and she chuckles as she looks at the blue-eyed cheetah.  
  
“Ok fine.” She climbs onto his back, threading her free hand into his spotted fur. He takes of down the stairs, the wind blowing past them. He weaves his way through the Resistance members that were making their way to their destination. He slows once he reached the door to the infirmary, the door still open. The robin slides off of his back, entering the room with a scratch behind his ears.  
  
“Jarell! You still here?” she calls, her eyes falling on the sleeping Fire user who was slumped in his chair.  
  
“Looks like the fight took more out of him then he let on.” Lucius says as he enters the room, closing the door slightly.  
  
“Yeah, looks like it.” The robin lowers herself into her chair, motioning to the cat to do the same.  
  
“I never thought we’d see the ‘ex-assassin’ like this.” He adds quotation marks in the air as he slumps into a chair. The robin gives him a look as she flips one of her books open. The boy goes to say something when the wolf’s hand twitches, the pairs’ eyes shooting to watch as she slowly opens her eyes, her pupils slowly refocusing as she drew in a deep breath.  
  
“You’re awake!” the robin jumps from her chair, the books landing with a thud on the floor, startling the dog beside her.  
  
“Huh…where’s the fire?” he mumbles as he sits up, looking around.  
  
“Lucius, go find Azaziel, he should be in his room.” The robin says and the boy leaps from his chair, changing as he left the room. Jarell gets to his feet and moves around the bed to the other side, his eyes on the wolf.  
  
“You gave us quite a scare.” He says with a grin, the wolf’s eyes flickering over to him, a small smile on her face.  
  
“How long was I out?” she asks, the robin bending down to retrieve her books.  
  
“Almost a day and a half.” The dog says helping the girl sit up, placing pillows behind her back. As he removes the breathing tube from around her face, a fox bounds into the room, almost sliding on the tiles in its haste. It takes one look at the girl in the bed and leaps onto the sheets, nudging at her hands and face. She laughs as she threads her fingers into its sleek fur.  
  
“Azaziel, I'm ok.” She says as she manages to hold him off.  
  
“Bloody hell he moves fast!” Lucius puffs as he leans against the door frame, his cheeks red from running. The wolf turns her eyes to the boy. He raises a hand in greeting when he notices her gaze.  
  
“The name’s Lucius and I used to be the fastest member in the Resistance.” He shoots a glare to the fox on the girl’s lap, who yips in reply. The girl scratches behind his ears as she chuckles.  
  
“Pleased to meet you.” She says with a small nod. The robin places her books back on her chair, checking the IV.  
  
“As soon as this bag is done, I’ll take it out.” She says as indicates the tube running from the machine to the back of her left hand.  
  
“Right, thank you, both of you.” The dog and robin look at the wolf shocked before smiling at her.  
  
“We should be thanking you, you protected our home at the near cost of your life, and every member that lives in this tree owes you their life.” Jarell says, surprising the girl greatly.  
  
“There’s no need for that.” She mutters as she looks out the window, her eyes fixed on the barrier. Azaziel hops off the bed as he began to change back. The wolf’s head whips around as she feels her free hand being hold, her cold skin welcoming the warmth of fox’s. Azaziel smiles brightly, his eyes seeming to shine like emeralds. She smiles back softly when Lucius quickly jumps out of the doorway as the Head walked in, his hands clasped behind his back. Jaylene and Jarell jump up, bowing to him, Lucius mimicking the pair as the Head moved to the bed, the wolf’s eyes watching him as he stopped at her side.  
  
“I see you are feeling better.” The wolf stiffly nods; her face seemed to harden into a mask.  
  
“Will that spell outside allow our scouts through?” Azaziel frowns at the straightforwardness of his grandfather, straightening to say so but is cut off by the girl in the bed.  
  
“The incantation of the Kudo allows only my allies though it, anyone else risks being shredded to pieces.” She says with a blank stare, her voice hard and proper as she spoke to the elder fox. The Head frowns as he puts the pieces together.  
  
“None of the Allies have tried to cross the barrier since it was created, our hawk scouts report that they have retreated into the forest.” He explains, the wolf nodding her head, the girl beginning to kick the sheets and blankets off of her legs.  
  
“Whoa, easy there, you need to rest.” Azaziel says as he catches her shoulder. She fixes him with glowing blue eyes as she swings he legs over the edge.  
  
“I've rested for over twenty-four hours, I'm rested enough.” She says, the robin pushing the fox out of the way so she could pull the IV out of the wolf’s hand. Azaziel watches as Jarell walks to a cupboard and pulls out the wolf’s coat, boots and scarf before walking back to the bed, the fox’s eyes slightly wide in shock.  
  
“You should know better than anyone how stubborn she is.” He says with a grin, handing everything back to their owner. The wolf gives a nod of thanks as she slips the boots on her feet and begins to tie them up.  
  
“What the Allies are trying to do is starve you out, force you across the barrier into an onslaught as you go to get food, but Thaine only ever sends out his Fire users as they deal the most damage.” She explains as she stands and pull her coat on.  
  
“Ok, but how's that information going to help us? Jarell asks, voicing the question that they all wanted to ask.  
  
“Fire users have high metabolisms and they need a constant supply of food, now in the forest surrounding us there are many poisonous fruits growing.” Azaziel’s eyes widen as he catches onto what she was getting at.  
  
“They have no Earth users, we are the only ones who can tell which plant is dangerous and which isn’t.” he says and the wolf smiles at him.  
  
“We just have to wait till their supplies run out.” The Head frowns at this as the teens start making plans.  
  
“We’ll ask the Water and Earth mages to draw drinking water and edible plants inside the barrier so we don’t run out of our own supplies.” Jaylene says as she gathers her books into her arms.  
  
“We’re going to need to have basins for the water to be stored.” Lucius says and Oceania nods at him before looking to Azaziel.  
  
“Leave that to me.” He says as they turn to the Head, who stood stiffly in the center of the room.  
  
“Grandfather, I know you might not trust her as much as I do, but we need you to get everyone to listen to her if we are going to put a stop to Thaine.” Azaziel says and his grandfather’s flicker over to the wolf.  
  
“As your superior, I’ll be honest, I didn’t think your motives were as true as they are, however as a fellow mage; I can see that everything that you have done since you joined the Resistance had been out of the goodness of your heart, you were shown a dark path but you chose to make your own, though you knew you would be loathed by everyone that lives in this tree.” The wolf’s eyes widen at his words and she tries to speak but no words came out.  
  
“I will call a meeting in the dining hall with all member and tribes, I expect you all to be there.” With that the old man turns and marches out of the room, leaving the group of teens staring shocked after him.


	12. Chapter 12

The group of teens stood at attention behind the Head, their hands clasped behind their backs. Low murmurs filled the large room, many of the tribes eyeing the blue-haired wolf who stood tall behind their leader with distrust and anger. Three boys hobble into the large room late, one sporting a bandaged head while the other two had a bandaged knee each. Azaziel gave Jarell a small tap on his ankle with his foot as the dog snickered and stole a glance at the wolf, a smirk pulling on the side of her mouth. The boys join the Bear tribe on the left side of the room and the Head clears his throat, the murmuring slowly dying away.  
  
“Thank you all for coming, I have called this meeting to discuss our survival, as you all know our home is surrounded by Ally forces and the only thing keeping them at bay is the protective barrier of Four Winds.” The murmurs begin again, the tribes talking amongst themselves.  
  
“Who created it?!” a female's voice calls from the back and everyone went quiet, waiting for someone within the tribes to step forward. The Head steps to the side and Oceania steps up to his spot.  
  
“I did.” Her voice was calm and strong. All eyes in the room widened in shock before panic set in.  
  
“The Allies are gonna get in and we’re all trapped!”  
  
“You allowed her to trap us!” Azaziel stomps his foot and the ground shakes, throwing everyone bar the Head and his friends off balance.  
  
“Now that we have your attention, when I created the barrier an Ally tried to cross it and he was shredded to pieces.” The wolf says calmly, though her eyes glowed in anger Jaylene steps forward with a large poster in her hands.  
  
“Thaine’s followers all have this mark somewhere on their body.” She announces, showing the red with black outline rose on the paper.  
  
“Those who turn away from his cause have black tattoos to show that they are traitors to his loyalty.” She says, the wolf turning so her back was to the tribes, pulling her scarf from her neck and lifting her ponytail out of the way, revealing the ebony colored rose on her skin. A gasp rings out from the closest tribes, the tigers and hawks.  
  
“It’s black…” that whisper spreads like wildfire around the room. Jarell leans towards Azaziel.  
  
“Do you think they’ll believe us now?” he whispers and the fox shrugs.  
  
“I don’t know, pray they do.” He whispers back.  
  
“But she attacked three of our own!” shouts the Head Tribesman of the Bears, sweeping his arm to the three that came in late. Azaziel quickly grabs Jarell as his hair erupts into flames and his eyes blaze, the robin placing a hand on the wolf’s arm as the air grew colder, the ex-assassin slowly turning to the tribe.  
  
“She was protecting my partner from those in heat bastards! They deserve more than broken knees and a cracked skull!” it grows humid at the two different air temperatures, the fox fighting to keep the dog in place. The Tribesman turns to the injured boys as well as all the tribes. The boys try to look innocent but the wolf slowly raises a hand.  
  
“Truth is what we want to know, Truth is what we need to hear; Kudo number five!” a green aura bubble flies from the girl’s and grows in size as it nears the shocked boys and surrounds them. Jaylene quickly catches the wolf as she staggered, the girl’s face beaded in sweat and dark circles appearing under her eyes.  
  
“Still too soon to be casting Kudos, even low-level ones.” The robin scolds the taller girl, who chuckles under her breath.  
  
“We need the truth…I'm just forcing them to speak it.” She says and Azaziel looks directly at the boys, Jarell going over to help support the wolf.  
  
“Now, did you or did you not attack Jarell’s partner Jaylene?” the boy with the right broken knee shakes his head no.  
  
“Yes.” He says, his eyes going wide in shock as he looked at his equally shocked friends.  
  
“I mean…yes we did and when we tried to get her, Oceania appeared and protected her…hmph!” his friends clamp his mouth shut but it was too late, their Head turning red with rage,  
  
“You three! Get out of this hall!!” he bellowed and they left quickly. He turns and bows to the teens.  
  
“I apologize for their actions and I apologize to you, Oceania.” The wolf’s head shoots up and appears that that was a bad idea, her eyes sliding out of focus and her skin going sickly white.  
  
“I accept your apology, if I was in your situation I would have acted the same.” She says, her right arm around Jarell’s neck as he held her up. The old bear stands straight, his eyes shocked at the state of the girl. Her eyes were now surrounded by dark shadows and her face glistened with sweat.  
  
“Is she ok!?” a male calls from the side.  
  
“She is still recovering from the protective spell so using that truth one took a lot out of her.” Jaylene explained. A young girl from the hawk tribe moves to the pair, the weakened girl’s eyes watching as the golden-haired child stopped in front of them. She reached the wolf’s waist in height and her facial features were sharp, with a small nose and high cheekbones. Her hands begin to glow with a strange light, a mixture of aqua and gold, washing over her brown dress as she raised her hand to touch the wolf’s forearm. As the light touched the girl she seemed to get better, the shadows faded from her eyes and color returned to her skin.  
  
“You're an energy healer.” Jarell muses out loud, the girl’s golden eyes flickering to him as she nodded.  
  
“Thank you very much.” The dog lets the wolf go as she squats down to be almost eye level with the young hawk. The girl leaps forward to wrap her arms around the elder’s neck, startling everyone in the room.  
  
“You saved me and my brother when the bad people burned our home and took our mommy and daddy.” Oceania’s eyes soften as she holds the child tightly.  
“Where’s your brother?” she asks and the girl turns, keeping one arm around her neck, pointing to a taller boy in the tribe. He had almost golden looking skin with the same colored hair as his younger sister, though his sported some silver highlights, he wore a brown button down with black jeans and combat boots, his golden eyes had silver flakes as he looked at the wolf.  
  
“What’s his name?” she asks the young girl, drawing her attention back to the older girl.  
  
“Horus, our parents thought the name would bring him protection.” The wolf nods her head.  
  
“And what’s yours?”  
  
“My name is Isis.” The young hawk says with a smile.  
  
“Well, Isis, thank you for healing me like that.” The wolf bows her head to the child and her grin grows wider before she ran back to her brother, leaping into his arms.  
  
“Horus, I did it, I did it right.” She squeals in happiness, her shrill voice echoing throughout the hall, causing everyone to laugh and chuckle.  
  
“Now back to business, my friends and I have worked out a way to us all from starving. We need any Earth and Water mages to help us create basins of water and draw edible plants inside the protective barrier.” Azaziel announces to the tribes.  
  
“Why?” someone calls.  
  
“Thaine doesn’t think his plans through, he only ever sends his Fire mages out to dispose of his enemies and as we all know, Fire mages have high metabolisms and this forest holds many poisonous plants.” Jarell explains, Jaylene steeping forward to add her bit.  
  
“They’ll run out of supplies and have no Earth mages to check which food source is deadly or not.” She says, all tribes beginning to murmur when she finished and soon many began to push to move to the middle, half wearing blue shirts or dresses with different shades of blue eyes and the other half wore green clothing with different shades of green eyes.  
  
“I never knew we had this many Earth and Water Mages.” Jaylene whispers, the three almost missing it.  
  
“Right, everyone who is an Earth user will need to follow Azaziel.” The fox begins to move through the crowd, the people in green moving to follow him out of the hall.  
  
“And everyone who’s a Water user follow me.” Oceania calls, following Azaziel’s path as Jarell and Jaylene took over.  
  
“Now if everyone else would like to make their way up to the branches, this is something you don’t want to miss.” Jarell says as they both transform and rush out of the room, wanting to get the best spot to watch their friends.


	13. Chapter 13

The wolf pushes herself out of the muddy hole that leads into the tree and shook the clumps of earth from her fur as the other Water users climb or flew out of the tree to follow her. A cheetah with deep blue eyes walks up to stand at her side.  
  
‘What do you need us to do?’ he asks and she gives a single look before a white glow enveloped her and she transformed back, the other Mages following suits.  
  
“Everyone, partner up, I don’t care if it’s with your friend, enemy, brother, sister, wife or husband.” She calls and the group begins to shuffle, partnering up just as the ground shakes and rumble fills the air. Oceania catches Lucius’s arm as he stumbles, keeping him from falling to the ground.  
  
“Thanks.” He mutters as the shaking stopped.  
  
“Ok, each pair needs to pick a basin and levitate over it, draw water from whatever source you can find within your range into the basin, work together!” she calls as the group splits up, running to a different basin each that now surrounded the tree a few feet away. Oceania and Lucius jog to the one ahead of them and Azaziel turns to them, the fox standing next to a younger boy with auburn hair and lime green eyes.  
  
“Our turn now, go and help the others draw food in, make sure they go under the barrier.” The wolf instructs and he nods his head, jogging back towards the tree with the boy in tow. The pair watches them go before peering down into the basin. It was at least fifty meters deep and twice that in size. Lucius swallows a lump in his throat.  
  
“You sure he didn’t overdo it?” he asks as the wolf steps off the edge and hovers in front of him.  
  
“No, we need lots of water to make sure everyone gets what they need, come on.” She gestures for him to follow her but the cat shakes his head.  
  
“I…um…I never learned how to levitate, always preferred to keep my feet on the ground.” He scratches the back of his neck nervously. The wolf chuckles slightly and holds out her hands to him.  
  
“It’s easy, I’ll help you.” She says, her voice calm and kind as she waited for him to take her hands. It takes a minute but he places his palms on hers and her eyes glow brightly as she pulls him over the edge, his body staying suspended over the basin. The cat’s eyes begin to glow in panic.  
  
“It’s ok, I've got you.” He focuses on the wolf’s glowing orbs and calms his breathing as she leads him towards the center. She stops and slowly lifts her legs to cross them under her, Lucius doing the same, the cat’s grip tightening on the wolf’s hands as he shook slightly.  
  
“You’re doing well.” He gives a nervous chuckle as he looks around under him.  
  
“Hey! Eyes on me.” He snaps his eyes back to the young woman’s face, her eyes now only glowing balls of light, her shining orbs studying him thoroughly.  
  
“Don’t worry about whats below you, focus on what needs to be done.” The cat’s eyes slowly start to glow brighter as he begins to search for a large body of water.  
  
“That’s it.” Stones within the basin begin to rumble as the wolf pulls a river over a mile away to her. The cat feels the water surge below them, the stones too stubborn to let it through.  
  
“Well, that’s a setback.” The young man is barely aware as the wolf let’s go of his hands as she concentrated on moving the water to any cracks in the stones. The cat finds a large source of liquid some hundred feet away from the outside of the barrier. He begins to pull it through the earth, the dirt and stone seeming to move away from the torrents of water.  
  
“Lucius…?” the wolf voice was drowned out by a loud boom. The stones gave out as the built-up pressure reached its maximum, water sprayed into the air as geysers erupted from the bottom of the basin. The wolf straitens herself and holds up her hands, the mist avoiding the pair and leaves them dry and the hole beneath them fills up quickly, the cool liquid surprisingly clear. The toes of the girl’s boots skim the surface as she floated closer to the cat, the boy panting slightly.  
  
“Looks like you didn’t need my help after all.” She says and the boy’s eyes widen as he realized she wasn’t holding him up anymore.  
  
“For a cat, you're alright around water.” She muses as she floats back to shore, where the Earth and Water mages had gathered. Lucius shakes his head and chuckles before following her, reaching the shore just as she landed.  
  
“Everything went alright then?” Azaziel asks the wolf and she nods with a smile.  
  
“Yep, you get all the food we need?” Lucius’s feet touch the ground just as cheers echo from the tree. The fox smiles as the group behind him join in, the wolf looking confused.  
  
“They’re all cheering for you; without you, we’d all be dead.” The girl looks at the fox wide-eyed. A grin spreads on her face and she begins to laugh as the group surrounds the pair, hoisting them onto their shoulders.  
  
“Hey!” Azaziel cries as they walk them to the edge of the basin and get ready to throw them. Oceania quickly grabs Azaziel’s hand and winks at him when he turned to look at her. Their carriers throw them into the air, the both of them flying towards the pool of cool liquid quickly. At the last second a bubble forms around them as they fall into the basin, submerging a few feet below the surface. The girl falls back against the surface of the sphere as laughter shakes her frame and fills the silence. The fox joins her, tears beginning to fall from their eyes.  
  
“Oww…my stomach!” the girl clutches her abdomen as she laughed, curling her legs towards herself. Their laughter slowly dies as they lay against their bubble, facing each other. The fox turns his eyes to the surface, where the crowd was peering down, everyone waiting for them to come back up.  
  
“Should I?” he asks, not taking his now glowing eyes off of the group.  
  
“Payback can be a bitch.” She answers matter-of-factly, a smirk pulling on her lips. The fox’s eyes glow brightly and a deep rumble echoes through the water around them. Screams soon followed by splashes echo around them. The people that had thrown them in or had been too close to the edge had been thrown into the water, all quickly swimming to the surface and treading water. The wolf’s eyes begin to glow and the bubble slowly ascended to the surface and floating a few feet in the air before popping loudly. She quickly catches Azaziel’s wrist before he tumbled back into the pool. As they look down at the fighters the wolf’s eyes widen as she notices that the majority of them were Water mages, and they all had glowing eyes.  
  
“Heads up!” Azaziel swings himself up into the air just as a huge torrent shoots towards them. It envelops the girl as the fox lands on the stable ground.  
  
“Now, now, there is no need for such rash actions.” Azaziel turns around to see that Oceania had her hand outstretched, the torrent being pushed back with mist spraying back onto the onlookers. The Water mages give up and the torrent falls back into its source with a large splash, swimming back to the shore. Oceania bumps her shoulder into Azaziel’s as she walks past, having landed back on the shore, before taking off in a run towards the tree.  
  
“Hey! Wait for us!” Lucius runs after her as she transforms, changing midstride. The black and white wolf howls loudly, the sound echoing into the branches of the tree. The group of Mages begin to make their way back to the entry points, changing in groups and disappearing, the sun slowly throwing dying rays of light into their valley, night time fast approaching.


	14. Chapter 14

Azaziel rolls over under his blankets, Oceania curled in her wolf form on the floor, light snores filling the silence when a loud ringing sound rings through the darkened tree. Azaziel quickly sits up, wide-eyed, while the wolf was already on her feet, light pouring into the room as the bedroom door opened. Lucius stood in the doorway, completely dressed in his field gear, a sword strapped to his back.  
  
“The night scouts sounded the alarm, there’s something big headed this way!” he quickly runs off and Oceania looks at the fox, the young man waving her off.  
  
“Go! I’ll catch up once I'm ready!” she nods her head and takes off out the door and up the stairs, all the fighter’s headed the same way while the families headed down to the hall, the children complaining loudly.  
  
‘Oceania, you headed up?’ Jarell’s voice rings through the wolf’s mind and she spots him at the topmost platform, Jaylene seated on his head.  
  
‘Yeah, care to give me a boost?’ she swings herself around and leaps off the stairwell, her body being lifted by a large gust of wind. As she drops next to the pair she changes back, landing crouched on the platform.  
  
“What's going on?” she asks as they change back, beginning to walk to the outside platform.  
  
“We’re not sure, all we know is that it’s big and headed this way,” Jaylene says, a bit hesitant.  
  
“But?” Oceania asks, noticing the tone of her voice.  
  
“But…it isn’t an animal of any tribe known, it’s too big to be any of the bear tribes and it’s too small to be of the elephant…” before Jarell could finish speaking a loud screeching sounds through the night.  
  
“Argh!!!” Oceania covers her ears and falls to her knees, pain etched on her face.  
  
“What’s wrong?!” Jaylene asks, kneeling in front of her.  
  
“You can’t hear that?!” she growls back, pressing her hands tighter to her ears.  
  
“No, we can’t,” Jarell says, looking into the trees outside the barrier. The trees closest to the Northern barrier had been burnt to stumps, a dark shadow with glowing red slitted eyes looked up from the forest.  
  
“I think it has something to do with whatever that thing is.” He states, pointing to creature hidden in the shadows of the trees. The wolf lets her hands fall to her sides, sweat dripping from her temples, the screeching having died away.  
  
“Whatever it is, it’s been sent after me.” She mutters as Azaziel rushes towards them, slipping the swords he stole from the Ally fighters into leather sheaths on his back, the blades making an X-motion on his back.  
  
“What’s been sent after you?” he asks, his eyes falling on the kneeling girls.  
  
“Whatever that shadow is down there,” Jarell says, pointing to it again as the fox joins him at the edge. The shadow shifts slightly and the wolf covers her ears again, screaming in pain as the screeching starts again.  
  
“Whatever it is, you need to stop it, it’s killing her!!” the robin yells. The boys quickly leap off the platform, the robin’s eyes glowing brightly as she held the wolf tightly.  
  
“Don’t…hurt him…please.” The robin looks down at the pained girl, stroking her hair lightly.  
  
“Don’t worry, Jarell will look after Azaziel.” The wolf shakes her head.  
  
“No…not Azaziel…the shadow…I…I know…who it…is.” She manages to puff out. The robin’s eyes widen and she quickly stands, helping the wolf to her feet.  
  
“Come on, we better get down there.” As she says this, a strong gust of wind lifts the pair into the air and they slowly float towards the Northern barrier, picking up speed as roars reach the robin’s ears. The boys were engaged in close combat with the shadow, the creature roaring and thrashing to try and clamp its large jaws on the agile boys.  
  
“Jarell! Azaziel! Stop!” Jaylene calls as the girls land just near the barrier. Oceania pushes off the robin and stumbles through the shield, the fast wind blowing her hair around her before she fell to her knees on the outside. The creature and the boys freeze, three pairs of eyes falling on the fallen wolf. The shadow took a step forward, the darkness that shrouded its body melting back into the forest. It looked like giant lizard standing on its hind legs, sharp talons digging into the soft earth beneath it, its body long and hunched forward, its arms pulled tight to its body with long claws on its three long fingers, its long neck was stretched out and its red eyes were on the side of its long face, small sharp teeth protruding from its mouth. Azaziel and Jarell rush to the girl’s side, keeping their eyes on the creature.  
  
“What are you doing out here?” Jarell asks, his hands encased in white-hot flames.  
  
“I know who that is, there’s only one person in this world who can turn into a velociraptor.” She says, pushing herself to her feet, fixing her now glowing eyes on the overgrown lizard.  
  
“Change back Cade, I know that it’s only your roar that affects me.” The dinosaur tilts its head slightly, its mouth seemed to be smiling as a bright glow enveloped its body. Once it died, a young man stood in the dinosaur’s place. He wore Ally clothes with an orange sash going around his chest, his symbol dying away from his right leg.  
  
“Nice to see you again, Oceania, how long has it been?” he asks, his eyes still that of his other form, red and the pupil slit.  
  
“Nearly a year.” The wolf replies, the boys hovering behind her.  
  
“Ah yes, I nearly forgot, you’ve changed your hair color I see.” He says, pointing to her long blue hair and she shrugs.  
  
“That happens when you have a mental breakdown.” She says, not taking her eyes off of the young man, the teen cracking a sly grin.  
  
“Come on Nia, you already know why we’re here.” The trio shifts slightly, spreading out a little.  
  
“We?” Jarell asks, clenching his fists tighter, his flames blazing hotter, clicking sounds becoming audible from the forest behind the Ally.  
  
“You didn’t think he’d send me on my own now, did you?” he asks innocently, two shiny red orbs could be seen from the shadows behind him.  
  
“Crap!” the wolf hisses under her breath, just as a large stinger shoots towards them. She quickly pushes the boys into the barrier and ducks under the attack, the stinger connecting with the wind barrier and the tip gets shredded. A pained shriek fills the night air as the appendage retracts, blood dripping from it.  
  
“I'm sorry Cain!” the girl calls to the creature, the clicking slowing down. As she gets to her feet a giant scorpion steps out of the forest, his tail curled in tightly to stop the bleeding.  
  
“That wasn’t very nice.” The dino had an angry look on his face and his eyes were beginning to glow brightly.  
  
“He attacked us, he’s lucky that his entire tail didn’t go in!” she shouts back, pointing at the barrier. The arachnid begins to glow brightly and a young teen takes its place, his tail staying. He was shorter than the two and was dressed similarly to Cade, minus the sash. His hair was cut short and his face was littered with scars.  
  
“Nice to see you too.” He mutters as he crosses his arms, his face set in a hard line. The wolf goes to say something but Cade roars, his voice creating the same shrieking sound as before, the wolf falling to her knees, her hands covering her ears tightly, blood beginning to slide down the side of her face. Suddenly, silver tipped arrows fly through the barrier, soaring towards the Allies, forcing them to leap away and the roaring stopped. Azaziel and Jarell rush out, engaging the enemies while the robin began to heal the wolf.  
  
“That was too close,” Jaylene mutters, holding her glowing hands near the wolf’s ears.  
  
“You're telling me.” The wolf says, letting her hands fall to the ground. The robin chuckles as she stands up, pulling the wolf to her feet.  
  
“I've put a spell on your ears, anything reaching a certain octave you won’t hear, hopefully, that helps.” She explains before they run towards their partners. The wolf leaps high into the air.  
  
“Heads up!” she shouts before her foot connected with Cade’s chest, sending him flying into a large tree, the trunk snapping from the impact.  
  
“Thanks,” Azaziel says, taking a deep breath before they went after Cade.  
  
“Don’t kill him! Just knock him out!” the wolf shouts to the fox, his swords glowing a faint green. Cade was already on his feet and he roared, the fox hearing the sound but the wolf heard nothing. She smirks at the shocked boy before kicking at him, his arm coming up to block it before he threw a punch at her only to find she wasn’t there. A leg connects with his ankles and he falls to the earth on his back, the wolf’s glowing eyes hovering over him.  
  
“Don’t tell me you forgot my special trick Cade.” She mocks and she quickly flips back as flames erupt from his mouth. She lands crouched, her throwing knives slipping from her sleeves into her hands, Azaziel dashing forward, his swords in their sheaths. Cade was on his feet again, hurling fireballs at the approaching fox, the wolf’s knives beginning to glow blue and sinking smoke coming off of them. She throws with precise aim and accuracy, each connecting with a fireball and freezing it solid, each falling to the ground with a thud. Azaziel reaches Cade unharmed and kicks at his stomach, his body twisting as he rolled his hip. Cade gives a pained grunt as the fox’s shin connected with his ribs, a loud crack sound filling the space between the three.  
  
“Azaziel!” the wolf shouts as she rushed over, the fox taking a step back.  
  
“I'm sorry, but he's not going down easy.” He retorts, the wolf scowling at him. Cade clutches his left side as he watches the two, slowly raising his right hand. The wolf catches the movement, pushing fox to the ground as a wall of water erupted in front of them just a column of fire flew from his hand. An ice encased fist shoots through the flames and connects with the center of his brow bone, his head snapping back as his eyes rolled and his body crashed to the ground, his flames stopping as he was knocked out. Azaziel looks up at the wolf as she pulled her fist back, the ice melting away, her breath coming in short pants.  
  
“My apologies, Cade but you were really starting to annoy me.” She mutters, turning her glowing eyes to Azaziel and holding out her hand.  
  
“Sorry about that.” She says as he takes her hand and she pulls him to his feet.  
  
“If you love birds are done, WE COULD USE SOME HELP!!” Jarell yells at them as he danced out the way of Cain’s re-grown stinger. Jaylene was knocked out in his arms, blood dripping from her temples.  
  
“Trap his stinger!” Oceania calls to Azaziel as she leaps onto the scorpion’s back, the Ally having transformed, her knives flashing into view once again before they were embedded into the arachnid’s exoskeleton, the creature rearing back with a shriek of pain. He tries to impale the wolf on his back but vines had wrapped around it and now held it to the ground.  
  
“Azaziel, sword!” the wolf shouts and the fox unsheathed one and tosses it into the air, his eyes glowing brightly as the wolf leaped into the air and snatched the hilt of the sword, the blade glowing blue.  
  
“Get back!” she shouts before she seemed to disappear in the air, appearing in front of the scorpion, holding the blade horizontal in the air in front of her, her free hand pressed flat against the blade itself, her eyes closed. Jarell and Azaziel leap closer to the barrier, the dog cradling the robin tightly. They watch as tendrils of white-blue light begins to rise from around the wolf’s feet, Cain fighting desperately against the vines on his tail.  
  
“I'm so sorry Cain, but you leave me no choice.” The light had surrounded her entire frame, her eyes open and glowing white. She swings the sword expertly in her left hand, sinking into a stance unfamiliar to the boys behind her.  
  
“Et in hoc, ex lumine ferrum mundobo vos.” She says, confusing her onlookers, before she disappeared, appearing high in the sky. Her blade flashed and shrieks of pain from the scorpion filled the night, one of his legs falling off, blood dripping from the stump on his right side. This continued, Oceania would appear in the sight of the boys before disappearing again, Cain shrieking louder in pain each time till the glowing girl appeared in front of the moon, her arms spread out, her body glowing almost as brightly as the moon itself. She twisted in the air, pointing the tip of the blade down, the steel glowing brightly. As the boys watched a beam of light shot down from the sword, straight through what was left of the arachnid, one last pained shriek filling the night onto the ground around the dead body of the scorpion. The wolf flips again as she slowly floated to the ground, the light dying away as her feet touched the blood-soaked earth, her eyes closed.  
  
“Well, we know she's an assassin alright.” Jarell mutters as the boys’ breathe a sigh of relief. The wolf slowly opens her eyes, both still glowing white.  
  
“Bring Jaylene over here.” She orders and the dog slowly brings the robin to her, holding her gently. The wolf holds a glowing hand over the girl, the light enveloping her body.  
  
“Lux lunae, vulneratuin militem curaverat!” the robin’s body hovers slightly and she lets out a gasp, her wounds healing and the blood disappearing in smoke.  
  
“She’ll be ok after some rest.” The wolf says, the light dying away from her eyes as the robin settled back into Jarell’s arms, her breathing deep and even, indicating she was asleep.  
  
“What about them?” Azaziel asks, crossing his arms, nodding to the dino and dead scorpion.  
  
“Could you get rid of the body Jarell? We don’t want the kids to see this.” The dog gives a nod to the wolf as his eyes began to glow. The mutilated body erupted into flames, the smell filling the air like a fog. Oceania and Azaziel gagged, covering their mouth and noses with their sleeves.  
  
“The one thing I curse about being a predator animal; our heightened sense of smell,” Oceania mutters, her voice muffled by her sleeve. Azaziel nods in agreement, watching the body burn and crackle, his eyes glowing as vines tossed pieces of the arachnid into the blaze.  
  
“What are we gonna to do with him?” Jarell nods towards the knocked out Ally. The wolf and fox turn to face each other.  
  
“You can’t think of him as a friend, your tattoo could change.” Azaziel states and the wolf nods in agreement.  
  
“And we can’t take him through; he’ll be ripped to shreds.” She says, thinking out loud.  
  
“And with Jaylene out, his roar will affect you again,” Jarell says, stepping forward.  
  
“I can fix that, Azaziel bind his limbs for me please.” The wolf says as she walks towards the Ally. Roots begin to break through the earth underneath the young man and wrap around his wrists and ankles, the wolf’s left hand beginning to glow as she neared him.  
  
“I'm sorry Cade; I know how painful this can be.” She says as she kneels beside him, raising her glowing hand over his body.  
  
“I suggest you two look away.” She calls over her shoulder to the boys before her hand sank into the Ally’ throat like it was water. Jarell quickly whirls around so his back was to what was going on, Azaziel merely lowering his head. After a minute the wolf pulls her hand out, something encased in her fist.  
  
“You can look now, I found it.” She says as she gets to her feet.  
  
“Found what?” Azaziel asks, raising his head, and the wolf opens her hand to show a small, pitch black lizard sleeping on her palm.  
  
“This little guy is a special type of Kudo, number hundred and three I think, once created it can be placed in the body to modify certain things, in Cade’s case; to make his roar lethal to my ears only.” She says, running a finger along the lizard’s back  
  
“Why don’t you kill it?” Jarell calls, the dog almost stepping into the barrier.  
  
“Because it’s an innocent lizard, this Kudo actually has a mind of its own, I just broke its connection to Thaine so now its indebted to me and can do much more than modify vocal cords!” the wolf shouts back, her voice slightly angry. Azaziel places his hand on the wolf’s shoulder and she takes a deep breath to calm herself.  
  
“Oh…right, I'm gonna go and tell everyone what happened, I’ll bring blankets and pillows once I put Jaylene to bed.” With that Jarell slips back inside the barrier, the wind swallowing his tall frame. The wolf huffs under her breath before walking to the Ally and lowering herself to the ground, folding her legs in front of her. She looked down at the lizard in her palm, running her finger from the top of its head to its tail.  
  
“Is there any other surprise fighters of Thaine’s that we should know about?” Azaziel asks as he joins her, laying his sword sheaths beside him.  
  
“There's one more that we really need to worry about, but I can deal with him when the time comes.” She mutters, the fox leaning in to hear her.  
  
“You don’t seem so sure.” He states and the wolf merely shrugs.  
  
“He and I…uh…were together when I was Thaine’s right hand, we…I thought we were in love but he chose to stay when I left. His main power is mind warps, makes you see what he wants you to see and he’s a part of the Elite Six, like this one.” She nods her head towards Cade.  
  
“That’s what the sash means, and once you're in the Elite Six, you can never leave, and you’ll always have that title.” From the depths of her coat, she pulls a deep blue sash the material soft and seemed to flow like water, the number one stitched into the end with silver thread.  
  
“You were the head of the group,” Azaziel says, looking at the sash in the girl’s hand. The wolf nods her head once, her lips pulled into a tight line.  
  
“I'm the strongest so I was made the leader, Cade is number three, I think, because of his transformation.” The wolf leans over the young man and turns the ends of the knot to show the golden three stitched into the material.  
  
“Whose number two?” the fox asks as she sits back.  
  
“The one we were just talking about, I'm surprised he didn’t get sent out first though, guess Thaine is saving him for last, and we’re almost evenly matched after-all.” She says with another shrug. Azaziel looks up at the sound of someone walking behind them and sees Jarell walking towards them with a pillow tucked under each arm and a bundle of blankets in front of him.  
  
“Hopefully this will do.” He says as the fox gets up to take it from the dog.  
  
“How much did you hear?” Azaziel asks and the dog shakes his head.  
  
“Not much, just some stuff about the Elite, nothing of interest,” Jarell says before turning to walk back to the tree, the barrier swallowing him again. The fox sighs as he turns back to the girl, dropping the pillows to the grass before throwing a blanket around her shoulders.  
  
“Thanks.” She says, pulling it tighter around her. The fox sits beside her and wraps himself in a blanket. The wind begins to blow through the trees. The two Rebels draw in a deep breath.  
  
“We have an audience,” Azaziel says, the scent of blood not masking the smell of dead flesh that wafted into the clearing.  
  
“I know.” She replies, slowly getting to her feet. Her eyes were scanning the trees as the fox got up. Two glowing white orbs were perched on the topmost branch of a tall tree to their left. A single knife appears in the wolf’s hand before it was flying towards the eyes. The clang of steel against steel sounds through the silent night and her knife falls to the ground.  
  
“Should've known you'd be here Jay, you could never resist showing off.” The wolf calls to the person, holding out her hand to her weapon, the knife disappearing in blue light up her sleeve.  
  
“Now, now, we both know you're jealous.” A male voice calls back, the eyes disappearing into darkness, the shadows sinking to the ground, gathering in a bubbling mass on the earth before reshaping itself. The shadows bleed away from a tall, skinny male, his skin darker than the pairs, his black hair seemed to be windblown. His face was littered with small scars though his white eyes had a cocky look to them and his mouth was in a matching smirk, his clothes were like Cade’s except he wore a coat like the wolf’s. On his back he had four swords, one behind each shoulder and the other two at the base of his spine, the hilts sticking out on either side of him, wrapped around his right forearm was a white sash, the material shiny and seemed to disappear when he moved, the number four stitched into the material on his wrist in black thread.  
  
“Why would I be jealous of you?” the wolf asks as she steps in front of the fox, the blanket falling to the ground. Azaziel’s eyes catch a flash of dark blue under her coat and saw that she had tied her sash around her waist, the ends dangling down her left leg from the knot on her hip.  
  
“Just because you’re number one doesn’t mean you're the strongest.” Jay snaps angrily, noticing the sash as well, two curved daggers slide into his hands from his sleeves.  
  
“That’s not the only reason and you know it!” she shouts, her eyes beginning to shine. Shadows begin to dance around Jay’s feet, curling around him protectively. Before he could move he cries out in pain, his right hand shooting up to clutch his left shoulder, falling to the ground.  
  
“You never learn, do you? You should never disobey a direct order from him.” Oceania says with a shake of her head. Jay growls as he slowly pushes himself to his knees, his eyes glowing slightly. The shadows begin to creep up his legs as he glared at the pair.  
  
“You’ll never be able to defeat all of us, you will fall and he will win this war, till we meet again Oceania.” The shadows completely envelop him and he disappears, melting into the trees.  
  
“He was a pleasant fellow,” Azaziel mutters the wolf’s shoulders slumping slightly.  
  
“That’s Rogue and Dino we’ve seen, that leaves Mindwarp, Seductress, and Ninja yet to be sent out.” The wolf ticks them off on her fingers, the little lizard seated under her collar on her shoulder.  
  
“Wonder which one will be next.” The fox says as he sits back down, wrapping the blanket around him again.  
  
“Not sure but let’s pray we can deal with them without anyone dying at their hands.” The wolf sits beside the fox, pulling her right sleeve up to show the black star tattooed on the side of her wrist.  
  
"What's that?" Azaziel asks, leaning over to get a better look.  
  
“Perfect killstreak, that’s what this means, I've never failed a mission, never failed to execute my target in all the time I worked for my brother.” She mutters before pulling her sleeve back down and wrapping her arms around her knees, hugging them tightly to her chest.  
  
“The worse part about it was, I didn’t feel anything, I murdered countless men, women and even children, and yet I felt nothing, no guilt, no sorrow and no grief.” Tears were beginning to prick the corners of her eyes but she brushed them away with her sleeve.  
  
“You had no choice, in this world, it’s basically kill or be killed,” Azaziel says, throwing a blanket over her shoulders again before pulling her close to him.  
  
“Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t, doesn’t change the fact that I did it.” She mutters, the Ally beginning to stir in front of them, slowly moving his arm and legs which were still trapped in the toots. The pair watch as he fully wakes when he realizes he couldn’t move.  
  
“What's the meaning of this?” his voice sounded like he had gargled a hand full of gravel.  
  
“I suggest you rest your voice Dino, might be a bit painful for a while,” Oceania says, a small smile on her lips, the little lizard also seeming to smile at him from her shoulder.  
  
“Release me Mystic, or I’ll burn everythin…” the wolf appears above him, her hands wrapped around his throat.  
  
“You can try, but then I won’t show any mercy.” She growls and Cade nods once, the wolf withdrawing her hands and standing up.  
  
“Good Dino.” She says, looking down on the Elite, her eyes two shining orbs against the dark trees.  
  
“I told you before! I'm not some animal you can train!” he shouts, sparks beginning to fly off of his body.  
  
“Now, now no need to get riled up, we’re all friends here.” She says as she sits back down beside the fox.  
  
“You're a traitor; traitors are no friends of mine.” Dino retorts, still fighting against the roots on his limbs.  
  
“Stubborn as per usual, let him sit up Azaziel but keep him bound please.” The fox’s eyes glow and the roots grow out more, allowing Dino to sit up, his eyes almost burning as he glared at the wolf.  
“Since when do you have a soft spot Mystic?” he asks, testing the strength of the plants.  
  
“Since I had my heart broken by Mindwarp.” She replies and he stops his movements.  
  
“He said you left without telling him.” He says, a confused look on his face. The girl gives a dry chuckle, her glowing eyes not hiding the hurt she felt.  
  
“I asked him to come with me; he refused and stayed to fight against me.” She said, Dino just looking at her, the young man listening closely.  
  
“Why would he tell us that, he loved you.” He exclaims and the wolf just shrugs.  
  
“That’s what I thought too.” She says, pulling a blanket up around her shoulders as a wind began to blow through the trees.  
  
“Do you want a blanket? Our friend brought extra for you.” Azaziel says, holding out a thin one to the Ally.  
  
“Thanks, but I don’t really need one,” Dino says, though he takes it the fox’s hands.  
  
“We know but its common curtsey.” The fox says with a shrug as Dino throws the blanket around his shoulders. The wolf continues to watch the young man, her eyes still glowing brightly.  
  
“Why so on edge Mystic? You have me bound tightly so I'm not going anywhere.” Dino says, lifting his arm to prove his point.  
  
“Rogue was here while you were knocked out, though he wasn’t meant to be, who was Thaine going to send out if you didn’t return?” Azaziel was slightly shocked at how steeled her posture and voice had become Dino slowly lowers his arm, his eyes slightly scared.  
  
“Mindwarp then, he’s the only logical choice, if you were to fail in over-powering me then using his ability and connection would be the next best option.” The look on Dino’s face told the pair that she was right. The wolf sighs, the light in her eyes dimming slightly.  
  
“What was your time limit?” she asks, Dino trying to avoid her gaze, the Elite keeping silent. The wolf sighs again before getting to her feet, the blanket falling around her legs.  
  
“Don’t make me hurt you, Dino.” Her voice was more cold and emotionless now, her eyes shining brightly again.  
  
“Oceania!” Azaziel exclaims, shocked evident in his features. The wolf slowly turns to him, her face stoic.  
  
“If he’s not going to talk willingly then I'm going to make him talk.” She says before taking another step towards the Elite.  
  
“I suggest you look away and cover your ears.” She adds as she kneels beside the bound teen, his eyes wide with fear and his breath quickening. The wolf grasps his left shin, her eyes on his face.  
  
“You are going to tell me what I want to know, or am I going to have to break a few bones?” Dino begins to thrash about, his fist nearly connecting with the wolf’s face, but his limbs quickly were pulled to the ground, his body following suit.  
  
“I suggest you do as she says, I'm also running out of patience.” The fox was on his feet, his eyes glowing and his hand outstretched to the young man on the ground. The Elite begins to shake his head but the fox clenches his fist, roots springing up and wrapping around Dino’s neck, tightening quickly.  
  
“When is he going to be sent out?!” the wolf demands, her eyes blazing, and her grip tightens to almost bone crushing.  
  
“Ok!...ok…I’ll tell you what you want to know!” he cries, the roots around his neck unwrapping and the wolf letting his leg go.  
  
“We were given a three day time period, one day to travel, one day to try and subdue you, and one day to travel back if successful, if we weren’t back by midnight of the third day, we are considered dead or captured.” He says the wolf looking up at the fox.  
  
“And this is your second day?” Azaziel asks, his eyes dimming and Dino nods once.  
  
“That leaves less than seventy-two hours till Mindwarp comes after us.” The wolf says as she gets to her feet, her glowing eyes narrowed as she tried to think.  
  
“We can’t let him get here; we can’t risk everyone in the tree,” Azaziel says, crossing his arms as he watched the now pacing wolf.  
  
“I know, but we can’t very well let him go,” she nods to Dino.  
  
“Thaine will just send them all out.” She adds, her brows furrowed in concentration.  
  
“Why did you leave?” the wolf stops pacing and the pair looks down at the Elite.  
  
“I wanted to have a life, not all the murdering and destruction that been brought in this war, I wasn’t planning to join the Resistance, I was just gonna disappear.” She says, perking the interest of the fox beside her.  
  
“What changed your mind?” Azaziel asks but before the wolf could answer Dino spoke up.  
  
“Mindwarp…you two were so close that you knew each other’s every move, he would’ve known exactly where to look if you went off the radar so you threw everyone off and joined the Resistance.” The wolf gives a small nod to him and goes back to pacing.  
  
“Hey, Earth mage, can you let me up?” Azaziel looks down at Dino before his eyes flicker over to the wolf.  
  
“I'm not going to attack, I want what she wants, a life with no killing or destruction.” The wolf stops abruptly and whirls around to face him.  
  
“Let him up Azaziel.” The fox’s eyes flash once and the roots unwrap themselves from Dino’s limbs, the Elite sitting up slowly. The wolf squats down in front of him, red eyes fixed in shining blue.  
  
“How long?” was all she asked and he shrugged, pulling down his collar to show a black rose on his chest.  
  
“After you left, Thaine sent myself and Seductress out to dispose of the Dog tribes, she had no problem doing it, but there were children there. I went through with it but afterward, I kept thinking about what life would be like without all this and this went black the second I thought about it.” The wolf slowly stands and looks at the fox behind her. He gives a single nod and gathers the pillows and blankets into his arms, Oceania offering a hand to Dino.  
  
“Come on, let’s go inside, it’s cold out.” She heaves him to his feet, pulling him towards the barrier, the fox following closely behind.  
  
“But…will that thing let me through?” he asks as they stood at it.  
  
“Let’s find out.” The wolf steps into the wind, the barrier enclosing her frame. Dino lifts his hand and, after closing his eyes, put it into the barrier. He opens his eyes when no pain registered in his brain.  
  
“Off you go,” Azaziel says and they both step through, the wind whipping around them. Once the boys were through they saw a black and white wolf waiting for them. Azaziel clasps Dino’s shoulder.  
  
“Welcome to the Resistance Dino.” The Elite’s eyes staring up at the tall tree with wonder.  
  
“Wow.” He says as they begin to walk towards it, Oceania leading the way as Resistance fighters begin to exit their home to see who was with their Fighters, surrounding the trio protectively.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just want to say a big thankyou to the friends who allowed me to use them as character base for this story and the others in the series


End file.
